Illuminating Aegis: Tales of the Changeling King

Lorna smirked as she spat out a glob of blood that had begun to accumulate in her beak from the last punch she had received. Her dark chuckling echoed in the room as she only rattled the chains keeping her affixed to the floor a little. "You guys must realize that Nikolaus isn't going to let you get away with this... right?" She braced for another strike, which knocked her away enough that her arms, chained to the floor, stopped her from falling too far away.

"Your... flame... isn't going to save you, no one in the castle knows what happened, it'll be like you got cold paws before the ceremony started." Lorna's captor gloated as he stooped down to grab the sore beak of the exhausted Griffon princess. "You're mine to do with as I please before I take that crown from your father's head."

Lorna winced a little as he threw her back to the floor before she began to chuckle again. "He knows... Nick always knows where I am... I don't know how long you kept me down here... but he's on his way now... I know it..." She gasped as her captor landed a solid kick to her gut.

"He's not coming... you will die down here." The Griffon spat before he turned around to leave. He stopped, Lorna smiled, as the sound of rending metal could be heard from further up in the cave. "What the hell?"

Lorna began to chuckle again, wincing a little with each laugh. "You're... going to die... down here." She managed to say between labored breaths.

The bulky Griffon scowled at her before quickly making his way to the door and slamming it shut, making the loud clunk of the lock being set in place before he strode down the hall with a scowl.

|-o-| (-o-) |-o-|

Lorna managed to ease herself back into a sitting position, shifting her dress a little to at least look somewhere near presentable despite the fact that it had quite a few bloodstains (Some of which weren't from her), after all... it wasn't good to have your lover walk in to you lying on the floor. So she waited, listening happily to what muffled screams she could hear through the heavy metal door. It was a bit difficult to move with the chains but she didn't mind, each passing second let the cries of pain get louder, letting her know that her fiance was getting closer.

It was nearly three minutes before the tip of her lover's red saber pierced the door where the lock was, letting him slide the door back with enough force to tear it from its sliding mounts. He gasped as he saw her and quickly deactivated his blade before putting it back on its clip. She weakly held her arms out, relaxing a little as the clamps snapped away as the dark grey and silver Griffon seemed to swoop over to her to pick her up in his arms. "It's alright... I'm here..." He cooed as he nuzzled her, hugging her close as he picked her up bridal style. "I'm getting you out of here..."

Lorna smiled as she leaned against her lover's neck, she chuckled inwardly as she thought about how much she had changed over the past few months. A year ago she would've laughed and punched whatever Griffon told her she'd be acting like a 'proper lady' and would be getting married, now? She was happily humming away as her husband-to-be took her away from the abandoned mine that she had been kept in as a prisoner. She cracked an eye open to take a look at some of the destruction that her lover had wrought, she actually had to keep from gasping as she took note of the grisly scene. Several Griffon, Diamond Dog and Minotaur mercenaries were impaled on whatever spike-like object could be found, some had limbs missing, it was like a scene she had read about in those musty old history tomes that her father made her read.

"This kingdom has rotted... It is time to trim away the diseased parts so that this empire can become strong once again." Nikolaus scowled as he looked at the corpses in disgust. "We will start by making an example of those who took you away on the day that was to be the most special. Once that is done we shall be wed immediately once you feel you are well enough to go through the ceremony."

Lorna nuzzled against her dark hero. "I would love that Nick... thank you..."

|-o-| (-o-) |-o-|

Twilight, her friends, her mentor and her mentor's sister all looked on in confusion, matching much of the crowd that had assembled outside of a raised platform that was similar to a gallows... just without the noose fixtures. Twilight's ears twitched as she picked up little snippets of conversation.

"What do you think they did?"

"I don't know, I heard they were arrested in their homes..."

"In the middle of the night?"

"No, right in broad daylight."

"Caught when?"

"Just an hour ago, the new prince-to-be put the arrest warrant through."

The violet mare frowned a little in confusion as she tried to get a better view of the stage. She fortunately didn't have to wait long before the dark-colored Griffon, quite an exception to the norm in this part of Griffonia, strode onto the stage, the hilt of his lightsaber in hand. He stopped in the center of the stage, raising a claw to call for silence, which the crowd obeyed.

"My people... those of you who are soon to be the subjects that my life will be devoted to... I have come before you to give you an example of why I seek to have your compliance instead of your defiance." He let his hand lower before using it to draw attention to the Griffon nobles that were chained to the stage. "These... creatures..." He spat with a scowl on his face. "Were found guilty of a great many charges today. Among them; treason, assault, conspiracy to kill the heir to the throne of the kingdom..." Twilight thought she saw his eye twitch. "There are a good number of things that I tolerate... when I relieve King Roald to help usher in a new age of prosperity with all of you... there will be some crimes that will not be acceptable whatsoever... What is needed in this time of transition is strength and stability. I will provide that for all of you."

He turned to the first noble. "There are three main rules that my friends and I follow... do forgive me, my new subjects, but I am going to be quite crass here." He lights his blade, casting an ominous red glow on the first noble's face. "You don't fuck with a man's food..." He starts, bringing his blade quickly across the Griffon's chest, making the noble shout out in pain and leaving behind a blackened burn across his chest. "You don't FUCK with a man's woman..." He says a bit louder, making most of the crowd gasp and recoil back as he sliced off the noble's hand, leaving him chained to the stage by one hand. "And finally..." He continued, slicing through the Griffon's leg. "You don't fuck with a man's children..." He took a deep breath as he hovered the tip of the blade over the noble's chest. "And you broke rule number two..." He says loud enough for some of the closer spectators to hear before he drove his blade into the gasping noble's chest, holding it there until he stopped struggling.

"All of these nobles... if they could still be called that... want to see this country... see all of you... remain weak! No more! We shall prosper once again, we shall flourish!" He waves a hand to the crowd. "My citizens... you are my allies, my strength, all of my allies shall prosper!" He lets his blade point towards the two remaining nobles. "These creatures... rats in griffon clothing... are my enemies, none of my enemies will last against us!" To punctuate his exclamation his blade hissed as it cut through the neck of the second noble, letting the body fall to the ground with a dull thud.

Murmurs began to go through the crowd as they watched the display, the ponies winced at each strike (Fluttershy was letting muffled cries into Celestia's busom).

"My people, if you feel that I am doing something wrong, hesitate not to let me know... I welcome your knowledge, your insight, your suggestions." He says to them as he begins to pace. "But of all the things you feel to do, do not become traitors to this land... treason will not be acceptable. Treason... will be punishable by death." He explained as he deactivated his saber and clipped it back to his belt. The remaining chained noble looked on in confusion and slight fear. "Pray, all of you, that you never have such ideas as these monsters..." Nikolaus finished before turning to the last noble, his claws sparking with lightning, before raising both his hands in front of the trapped Griffon and unleashed enough lightning to kill the noble on contact, cooking him thoroughly as he could barely utter a scream of pain before his lifeless, smoking husk collapsed to the stage.

One last time he turned to the gathered crowd, the entire gathering silenced in fear, he cleared his throat quickly before smoothing over his crest. "These nobles wanted this country to rot from the inside out... I wish to make you all strong." He bowed a little before turning to his left and quietly walking off-stage.

Twilight stood rooted to the spot as some of the crowd started to disperse. Her shell-shocked mind tried to comprehend what she had just seen until a marble-white hand gently placed itself on her shoulder, causing her to look at the source.

Celestia had a small frown on her face as she gripped the unicorn's shoulder reassuringly.

"T-that... that can't possibly be legal..." Twilight said as she finally found her voice.

"As much as I wish it wasn't..." Celestia replied with a sigh as she pulled her student into a hug. "... the punishment for treason in Griffonia has always been death. I had been hoping that by coexisting with us the Griffons would finally be rid of their brutal punishments... it seems though that such a desire had not yet been removed." She lets out a small sigh. "Do you want to return to Equestria?" She asked as she looked between Twilight and her friends.

Each of the Element Bearers gave quick nods, prompting her to quickly inscribe a note to let the soon-to-be prince know that they would be heading back to their country due to the stress of the events that had happened. She quickly sent the message before teleporting all nine of their company back to the train.

It was a few moments afterward when a scroll had appeared in front of her.

I understand that what your subjects saw was quite shocking, do please make sure that they are alright. I did not wish to cause undue stress on them, only to prove a point to the subjects that I will soon be protecting.

That simple note had been enough to make the ancient mare smile a little. "At least he knows when to apologize..." She tucked the note away and slowly got up as she finally decided to take a better look at the train that they were returning on, amazed once more at how fast it was able to move without derailing.