Illuminating Aegis: Tales of the Changeling King

One week... It had been one whole week since changelings had been revealed to the ponies and Griffon of Hardersfield. Surprisingly... no one had panicked. They'd been uneasy at first, once they realized that the changelings weren't there to steal their souls or something they had actually warmed up surprisingly quickly to the drones that Namiro had brought back with him for the presentation. There were still infiltrators growing up in the hive though, so that the inhabitants of the town could have changeling friends that would last more than half a year.

Patina had even surprised him with a gift of over two hundred one-inch diameter spheres of rubbery goo. They weren't the same exactly as ball bearings, but hey... they'd work. All he needed now were the candles.

Right now though, he was taking another chance to train with his newest mentor... sorta...

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

Starswirl sat across from his student, a broad smile across his face. "You're doing very well young padawan... this is our last training session together, from here on out you will have to find your own way in the world, find more who can teach you. Are you ready?"

Namiro slowly nodded his head. "Yes, Master."

Both slowly took a breath before Starswirl spoke. "I will teach you the ways of harmonizing with the force... to let the force flow through you... once complete, you will have to create your own personal blade. Upon completion of it The Force will recognize you as a fully-trained knight." Namiro nodded silently as he let his senses blur together, allowing him to see and sense The Force around him and within him. "You have learned and are on your way to mastering the two disciplines of Sense and Control, here... you will learn the discipline of Alter... Be wary young padawan, the Alter discipline allows you to manipulate the world around you and can easily cause harm if your will is left unchecked."

Namiro took a deep breath, feeling himself drawing power from The Force around him.

"As a changeling and a physical manifestation of The Force, we do not know where your limits lie when it comes to how well you can use the Alter discipline. To begin with Alter you must reach with your will to The Force around you, motion is not needed whatsoever, although many find focusing their efforts through their horn or another limb makes it easier to concentrate on the desired effect."

Namiro began to reach out, in a moment he could completely understand what Starswirl had meant when he spoke about altering the world. Within seconds he found his mind reaching out to even further parts of the world, One with The Force... Within his mind he could see himself soaring through vast, cloud-filled skies... Swimming in the cavernous depths of the oceans... gliding through the caverns and tunnels of various mountains. Not a single creature noticed him, he was in every spot... every location... he could hear the surface thoughts of thousands of creatures, all of it in a dull roar of names, places, lists, vices, disgusts. With a tremendous effort he brought his mind back to his body... his astral body... and collapsed on the fabricated ground, heaving as it seemed like he was going to violently get sick in his mind.

Starswirl leaned curiously over the changeling, gently rubbing in small circles down his back in order to ease the nausea. "My word..." The wizened sage began quietly. "...how did you do that?"

Once it seemed like he wasn't going to hurl Namiro slowly sat down. "I... I reached out... I... felt The Force... I... I became... one... with The Force..." He panted out with shuddering breaths. "I... I could hear... everyone... everything... animals... people... plants... rocks... I..." He trailed off as he held his head with a groan. "I... I think I'm just going to lay off on reaching out that far again... As nice as it was to visit the rest of the world, I'd rather not feel like I took an all-nighter to the face and spiked it with red bull and whiskey." He raised a hand as he stopped the curious stallion. "Don't ask... it started with a dare... and turned out to be the second-worst decision of my life. It ended with me spending a weekend vomiting into a toilet..."

"I... see..." Starswirl replied with caution as he took a couple steps back. "At least we know that as a changeling you can tap into the force like no mortal can... Hmm... Let me try something..." He closed his eyes. "I want you to focus on two names... Celestia... and Luna... I want you to envision them in your mind."

Namiro took a few more breaths before finally closing his eyes again. In his mind he began to repeat the two names over and over, each repetition somehow allowing him to understand more about them until he found himself floating in what seemed to be a starry version of a castle. He opened his eyes again and began to wander, letting his senses take him along the path he was supposed to go in order to see what he was supposed to see.

He stood outside a pair of massive double-doors, they looked like in real life they were some of the heaviest things in the world, since he was One with The Force though, he simply fazed through the doors, coming to a huge room that had several seats set up. As he finished flowing through the door everything was one big blur, each passing second gave him a clearer picture... the blurs solidified into the room... in the center was a desk, mahogany if the arrangement of The Force within was anything to go by. He smiled as he let a hand stroke the wood, it felt nice and strong.

He turned his head and blinked as he saw each of the powerfully-colored blurs take shape into a pony of some kind. The first that got his attention was a mass of radiant gold that threatened to blind him as it coalesced into the shape of a very matronly-looking mare. In his mind he quickly assigned the name Celestia as it felt... correct...

Next to her was a svelte midnight-blue blob that formed into the shape of a similar mare, Luna, everything about her seemed to be the right size for him, at least... until he finally did his final molt, but that was possibly still a ways off.

His attention was drawn to the remaining six sources like a moth to a flame, each one had a white core that glowed almost as intensely as Celestia's, but each one had a different outline that made a name immediately spring to his mind.

First was orange, it was strong, made him feel like it was a tree that weathered a hundred storms and was willing to weather a hundred more. He ran his hand along the front of the aura, feeling himself fill with that same strong feeling as memories began to flash quickly across his vision; trees, family, strength, competition... each of it having a hint of familial, earned pride behind it.... Honesty.

Second was a yellow aura, his hand caressed the side as he felt his entire body grow warm while gentle memories flashed for just moments across his mind; animals, friends, loneliness, happiness... Kindness.

He felt himself drawn to the third aura, like he couldn't escape it. It took his entire will not to embrace it as the light blue aura sifted between his hands. Pride, speed, daring, confidence... Loyalty, this aura called to him the most, it even brought a tear to his eye as memory after memory flashed across his vision, fleeting feelings of strong loyalty soaking each one. Loyalty... the one trait that he would respect for all time, the trait that every one of his friends respected...

Next was an off-white aura that made him smile as he brushed it, memories of giving, selflessness and true altruism flashed across his mind as it assigned the name Generosity... oddly enough it tasted like marshmallows.

Fifth was a light pink color, it struck him the hardest out of all... Depression, isolation, regret.. replaced by happiness, camaraderie, the desire to bring joy to every person it met regardless of who they were. They were feelings that Namiro had known all too well, the feelings that made him embrace the aura this time, gently holding the top of it against his chest as he wanted so badly to speak with the source of the aura and give them one more reason to hold on... one more reason to be happy... in his mind he assigned the name... Laughter.

Last, but certainly not least, was a powerful violet aura. It radiated the feeling one would get when you've accomplished something difficult, always seeking a new challenge just to see if it could be overcome. It also radiated fear, a fear of being alone, a fear of never being able to live up to its full potential... a fear of losing everyone it had grown close to. The realization that the source had so many that truly cared... Friendship.

Namiro backed away, he could feel the tears flowing freely from his eyes as he smiled at the group of friends, he could sense that the gold and midnight-blue source were now looking at him with surprise. He smiled a bit more as he spoke quietly. "They are true friends... they have bonds that will never be broken... perhaps one day I will be able to meet them and have bonds so strong, until then..." He turned to the surprised marble-white mare and similar dark-blue mare. "...Watch over them, they're important to this world... more so than any of us can imagine..." He closed his eyes once more, opening them to find himself sitting in the living room of Crimson's house with stains on his cheeks.

An ethereal image of Starswirl appeared before him. "You must construct your saber... find your crystal... and fulfill your destiny."

Namiro nodded as the image faded, the smile on his face still staying there with the memories that flashed across his mind.

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

Celestia and Luna looked at each other with unrivaled amounts of surprise as they noticed the source of why the Bearers of the Elements felt like they were being physically stimulated. Luna was the first to mouth the word 'changeling' as the girls sitting near them were regaining their composure.

Twilight shivered a bit as she looked over to her mentor. "What in the world was that?" She asked with a blush as she found herself covering her body out of embarrassment. Aside from Pinkie, who was still giggling at the feeling, her other friends certainly had similar reactions.

Celestia and Luna both shared another look before turning to the Element Bearers, Celestia spoke first. "It appears... that someone used the ability of astral projection to spy on us."

Luna continued where her sister left off. "We know not how much information they obtained, though we advise against speaking sensitive information should similar feelings arise once more."

"Spied on us?" Rainbow Dash asked as her deep crimson blush began to fade. "Did you guys get the source? where they are? Something that we could use to go and teach 'em not to mess with us like that?"

Luna managed to give her a smile. "We didn't get a very good look at the assailant... but we did cast a tracking spell on the essence that was with us, it will take a few days."

Celestia continued with her usual serene smile. "But we will get a location on who was just here..."

Twilight and her friends nodded as they recovered, put off of their appetites they decided to get up and head back to their rooms for the evening.

As the six friends left Celestia cast a worried look to her sister. "Luna... I..." She hesitated before the lunar princess cut her off.

"The last changeling so adept in the use of The Force was a monster, we must be sure that this one is not the same, how long until the spell has finished?"

"It should only be about a week." Celestia replied as she felt her body wanting to slump in her chair out of exhaustion.

"Then in a week we will go out personally and evaluate the threat." Luna replied as she got up. "We must ensure the safety of our country... We simply hope our skill with the blade has not rusted as much as thine own skill."

Celestia shot a small glare at her sister. "I haven't had the need to pick up my blade..."

"Practice should still be up on thy list of daily achievements." Luna curtly continued as she strode out of the room. "It would also help thee get back into thy once-proper form, confections have always been thy weakness sister."

Celestia hesitated a few seconds before blinking. "Did you just call me fat?"

"No..." Luna retorted. "We simply stated that thou needs to train with thy saber more." She smirked a little as she left the dining hall, leaving a stunned Celestia behind.

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

Namiro's lightsaber struck along a fluid and quick path, each swing disintegrated a one-inch diameter ball of goo while leaving the candle underneath unscathed. While the changeling king focused solely on the candles and small spheres of goo that were orbiting around him like a solar system while they waited their turn, he had drawn quite a crowd.

Ponies that had never seen such an elegant weapon before were awed into silence, the changelings present didn't even dare to buzz their wings, everyone seemed to be transfixed on the sweeping lime-green blade as it disintegrated each ball of goo, continuing its arc as if nothing had impeded it in the first place. Each one barely made a hiss as the blade traveled its dance along each of the nineteen candles, each swing meticulously calculated. Every spectator was enjoying watching something that was the equivalent to an artist at work, each swing of the blade like a brush stroke on a canvas, their gaze was locked on every inch of the performance as the spheres danced in the air just before settling on an empty candle only to be sliced by the green saber moments later.

Finally... the last few spheres found their places snugly on their candles only moments before the lime-green blade burned its way through them as well, letting its bearer deactivate the blade and re-clip it to his belt as he brought his focus back to the world around him. He blinked a little as a moderately loud applause went through the gathered crowd, causing him to blush a bit as he pulled his robe a bit closer.

Crimson walked up to him with a smile and clapped the undisguised changeling king on the back. "Well, it looks like you have a lot of potential as a dancer if the whole monk-warrior thing doesn't pan out." He said with a small laugh. "Seriously though, how did you get so good with that thing?"

Namiro chuckled. "Practice, Crimson. Lots... And lots... Of practice." He explained as the two of them made their way into the crowd of changelings and ponies that had become their audience.

The day began to wane and for once... Patina realized that maybe... just maybe... Changelings and the other races of Equis could learn to live together. She'd do what no other queen in the history of the changelings had done; make peace and walk around undisguised among the races of the world. Patina smiled as she laid on her bed in the hive, perhaps tomorrow she would go and visit Namiro in Hardersfield now that several nurse drones were working on hatching the infiltrators that she had laid yesterday.