Illuminating Aegis: Tales of the Changeling King

Patina nuzzled against Namiro as he stood once more at the entrance of the cavern that led to their home. "Please... make sure you come back safe..." She murmured as she gave him a sensitive kiss on the neck. His hand comes up to caress her muzzle as he pursed his lips.

"I... I can't guarantee that I'll be safe... but I'll use every last drop of my power to make sure your father is safe." Namiro replied before breaking off their embrace. "I'll try to be back as soon as I can." He turned quickly to give her a kiss before starting his way out of the cave.

Taking a deep breath Namiro began to let The Force flow through him, feel it coursing through his legs, his knees bent just before he took off in an incredibly fast sprint and kicked up a dust cloud behind him as he made his way to the train station.

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

Namiro chuckled a little as he realized that he had sped through the whole five mile hike in only a few minutes. His chuckling died down though as he realized that getting on the train as a changeling would possibly get him in trouble wherever the train stopped. With a slight frown he began to think for a solution, only to smack his forehead and shift into his chestnut-colored earth pony form as he made his way up to the station.

A pegasus was sitting behind the counter, Sea Breeze if he remembered correctly... it seemed to be her time of the month to take the conductor job, she seemed to be doing some sort of crossword puzzle in pen.

"Hey Sea Breeze." Namiro called as he approached the booth. "I'd like a ticket to The Crystal Empire."

The light-blue mare quickly picked herself up from the floor because she certainly did not scream like a filly and collapse out of her chair when she was startled, not scared, by Astral Aegis calling to her from less than a meter away. "Crystal... Empire?" She asked hesitantly, bringing up her list of locations. "No price for the Crystal Empire... must be a place that hasn't been updated by the train depot yet... at least, not here anyway. Uh... You're going to have to make a trip to one of the places that are on the list, I'd say Canterlot, so that you can board a train to the Crystal Empire from there."

"That's fine, how much for a ticket to Canterlot?"

"That'll be fifty-four bits." Sea Breeze replied.

He lets out a small sigh as he puts the bits on the counter. "One-way to Canterlot please."

"Comin' right up!" She replied with a smile before punching a ticket and passing it to him. "Train should be here in an hour, so I hope you brought something to do till then." The light blue pegasus said before going back to her crossword puzzle.

Namiro found a seat that was mostly-shaded and pulled out his saber, closing his eyes and letting his senses meditate on The Force as he began to disassemble and reassemble his saber, studying each component so that he would know how to build his own true saber. The Force in his current crystal was weak, unfocused... it wasn't a proper saber crystal. He would have to remedy that soon so that he could continue his training further.

Sea Breeze slowly moved her newspaper out of the way as she noticed the advanced blade being picked apart so easily. "...woah..." She whispered as she watched each piece of the saber come apart and hover in the air like a Three-Dimensional diagram of the mace-like weapon. What stunned her the most was that as an Earth Pony, Astral Aegis was able to make everything hover as if he were a unicorn.

Soon enough the saber hilt assembled itself just before the sound of a train whistle was heard in the distance. Namiro quickly clipped the saber to his belt and made his way over to the waiting platform as the train slowed down. The boarding and departing process was quick, as usual, for this station. Not many ponies ever wanted to come to the badlands since so little grew well out here. Namiro had no trouble with selecting a seat on one of the better sections near the front of the train as the huge, rumbling machine began to make its way down the track. The steady click-clack of the train on the tracks began to ease the disguised changeling into a nice slumber for the day and a half journey it would take to reach Canterlot. His eyelids drooped and soon enough he felt the comfortable embrace of sleep.

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

Namiro blinked as he found himself sitting in a vast, starry landscape... no... he was on a hillside... looking up at the stars. He felt... content... as he watched the night sky. Each star he understood could hold just as much, if not more, life than the planet he was currently on. Something felt off though as he looked at the sky, letting his tail twitch as he saw one of the stars start to get a little brighter before it winked out of existence. The moment it disappeared though, he felt an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Over a billion lives were suddenly silenced...

Namiro scowled as his brain seemed to be working against him. He slowly sat up as he noticed a slightly familiar presence nearby.

"We were wondering why there was a new presence in the dream realm..." Luna said as she landed gracefully next to him.

Namiro simply shrugged. "Hitching a train ride to the Crystal Empire..."

Luna gave him a curious look. "Why would thee need to go there, not even the citizens of Canterlot know of its reappearance."

"The force gave a vision... I need to be there. If you'd really like to help, a ticket arranged for 'Astral Aegis' directly to the empire would be nice."

"Woulds't thou like company? Our sister seeks to send the Elements Of Harmony to the empire in order to make sure that all is well."

Namiro put a hand to his chin in thought. "It would be nice... although I don't want them to know I'm a changeling yet... they would probably react badly to it."

"Thou will have to tell them eventually."

"Yeah... but I already know that they will learn of my true nature while they are in the empire."

Luna gave a small hum. "We shall see, for now... we shall speak with our sister, to see if we can arrange a ticket for Astral Aegis to take a trip with the Elements to the Crystal Empire."

"Thank you Luna... It is good to see you again as well."

The lunar alicorn blushed a little. "We... I... enjoy seeing... you... again too..." She stuttered out.

"You'll find the right stallion... heck... if you'd like to try... I can be whatever you need..." Namiro offered as he placed his hand on hers, getting her to turn towards him with a blush just as his dream form shifted to become a tall midnight-blue alicorn stallion. "I won't be able to give you a child... but I can certainly appreciate beauty for what it is..."

She quickly drew her hand away as her eyes widened. "I... uh... we... We are being woken, we will speak to thee at a later time..." she said quickly before getting up and flying away, letting the dream world waver and fade as Phillip began to wake up.

"Huh... see you around princess..." He chuckled.

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

Namiro blinked awake as the train began to pull into the station, he couldn't believe that he let himself sleep for an entire day... but... well... it wasn't that entertaining of a train ride anyway. He slowly got up and let his back give a few nice pops before groaning and getting his cloak over his shoulders. He turned his hood up before leaving the train.

The disguised changeling let out a sigh as he noticed several sets of guards, one of each pair being a unicorn, that were casting a spell over various ponies who were departing the platform. Using force sneak would arouse suspicion since it would make them sense no one where he was standing... perhaps...

A smirk crossed his face for a few seconds as he made his way to the end of the nearest line. He could only chuckle quietly to himself as he prepared The Force for what he was about to do as the line grew shorter.

The unicorn guard cast the spell over the pony in front of him...

The pony was cleared...

Namiro stepped up...

"You've already cast the spell on me." He mumbled as he gave a subtle wave of his hand.

The guard gained a slightly spaced-out look. "He's good..." The unicorn said as he waved Namiro through.

"He just stepped... up..." the second guard starts to interrupt before Namiro waved his hand again.

"Your partner is right..."

"You're right Scale... Go right on in sir." The earth pony says in a similar dazed tone.

"Thank you very much... such nice boys." Namiro says with a smile and a nod to each one before he continues on his way, chuckling silently to himself as he makes his way down the street to the official entrance of Canterlot.

A bored-looking pink unicorn mare with a pastel-yellow mane is sitting at the booth. "Name...?" She asks as she lights up her horn in an almost-clear aura, demonstrating for the disguised changeling a fairly weak connection to The Force.

"Astral Aegis." Namiro replied as he watched her use her 'magic' to write his name on the sign in ledger.

"Okay, you're all set, have a wonderful day and please enjoy your stay in wonderful, sunny Canterlot." She recites, letting her magic open the gate next to her booth. Namiro gave a slight bow before taking his first step into the City Proper.

All around him were lavishly decorated homes that stunk of greed and arrogance. A bitter, sour taste made itself known on his tongue as he began to make his way deeper into the city. Already he could smell another bitter smell that reminded him of paper and ink mixed with an infinite sadness, although for some reason that one was coming from The Force in small pockets around the city. The flavortext for one of his favorite Magic: The Gathering cards came to mind at that moment.

Prahv... Where much work is done to make sure nothing is accomplished

He gave a small chuckle as he searched for a specific type of clothing shop... One that would hopefully sell winter-weather gear that he could take to the Frozen North. After several minutes of searching, and the absolutely-disgusting black licorice taste of scorn from the nobles around him, he finally found a decent clothes shop that he could look into getting a good set of severe weather gear from.

"Well! Hello there friend!" came the booming voice of a fairly large minotaur. "What can Kalaz Nikov do for you today?" He asked jovially as the earth pony meandered into the shop.

"I'm looking for a set of cold weather gear, something that will let me get further than the train station for an expedition up north."

"Ah! I see... Chilly place, the north. Much like my ex-wife... Frigid sow..." He seemed to jump a little as he moved around the shop. "No need to think about evil mistresses though! For Nikov will find the best outfit to keep your little hoovsies warm on your journey through frigid women... I mean climates." The minotaur replied without even breaking his stride or smile. "Are you looking for something with fake fur? real fur? thick? Usable as a nice blanket?"

"I'm going to be travelling to a city that is protected by a magical barrier, once I'm inside the climate will be more like what's around here. So something that I can hopefully slip into and out of easily."

"Ah! No problem, Nikov has just the outfit for you then little earth pony!" He exclaimed with a broad smile before diving behind the counter and rummaging in the back room for several minutes. Namiro took the chance to browse some of the selections of clothing available as he heard the minotaur rummaging. It brought a smile to his face as he noticed that all of the outfits in the store had to have been hand-crafted and unique to create such intricate details and have small traces of love seeping off of them.

"Ok friend!" The minotaur called, garnering the disguised changeling's attention. "Take a look at... THIS!" He says as he pulls out a set of thick travelling clothes; a brown trenchcoat with a fur trim around the neck and hood line, a one-piece thick travelling suit, a pair of nice gloves that were layered to be fingered and mittened as well as a sturdy pair of travelling boots. If it weren't for the fact that the entire outfit was different shades of dirt-brown it would have been an exact match to his father's deer hunting outfit.

"How much?" Namiro asked as he approached the counter.

"Two hundred twelve bits." Nikov replied. "Would charge more, but business is slow right now so most everything is on sale."

It was a stretch, but fishing out all but the last twelve bits he had he put the coins on the counter and the minotaur smiled as the disguised changeling started packing the clothes into a satchel-bag that Crimson Hunter had purchased for him. "Thank you so much, I'm going to get quite a bit of use out of this."

"That is good to hear friend! Perhaps you could spread the word of Kalaz Nikov's fine wares?"

"Of course my friend, I wouldn't dream of doing something else." Namiro replies as he finished packing his bag. "I may even stop by the next time I'm in town."

"Wonderful! And if you happen to be in the Minotaur capital, Minos, you should look up my brother... Oleg Sander, he's a good Minotaur and great with making fine metal items."

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

Namiro stood outside of the gates of the palace, the entire trip from the market square to the gate of the castle where the guards searching specifically for Astral Aegis took about ten whole minutes. The guards themselves had been slightly surprised when they found out the pony they were looking for was an earth pony like him... but a summons from the Lunar princess wasn't an order to be ignored.

The gate slowly opened and the guards began to guide him through the grounds of the absolutely-massive castle. It was actually an amazingly lovely setup, he could see immediately how much care and love that the gardeners put into making the place look as beautiful as it was. "This place is beautiful..." He breathed just before they stepped into the first major room of the castle, the sheer size of the castle was breathtaking.

"Yeah, the princesses oversee most of the changes or additions to the castle now that both of them are in the seats of power that they belong in." The unicorn stallion to Namiro's left explained.

"Only the best for the rulers of the country..." The guard on his right replied with a near-undetectable sigh.

The disguised changeling decided to file away that little tidbit of information for later use. "I can certainly see that, the detail and quality of just... everything... is so exquisite."

"Wasn't like that a few months ago..." The guard on his right continued. "Damn changelings overpowered all of our forces and wiped us aside like we were foals..." He starts to scowl.

"Private..." The guard to Astral's left warns.

"Sorry Corporal, won't happen again." The right guard replies. They all stop outside of the main audience chamber. "This is your stop Astral Aegis, once you are finished with your audience we will escort you to the entrance of the castle again."

"Thank you good sirs..." Namiro replied with a smile before slowly opening the door to reveal a near-empty audience chamber. The door closed quickly behind him as he stepped inside, sealing him and the only other occupant of the room away from the world.

"Good afternoon Astral Aegis, it is good that thou were able to answer our summons." Luna says in her regal tone. "We shall be having a private audience while our sister speaks with her student about the mission thou shalt accompany them on."

Namiro nodded. "I am happy to help, since being given permission to go to the Crystal Empire would be much more comfortable than needing to stow away on a train heading north."

Luna gave a small smirk. "Quite..." She giggled before lighting up her horn and having a train ticket float from the arm of her chair to the air in front of him. "This ticket will allow for you to accompany the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony to the capital city of the Crystal Empire that our niece and her husband rule."

Namiro took the ticket from the air. "It is an honor to assist in whatever way I can."

"Our sister's student shall be leaving upon the first train upon the morn, until then her friends shall be staying in the castle with her until their departure. We have made arrangements so that thee shall 'bunk' with the dragon Spike while Twilight Sparkle and her friends shall be sharing a room." Luna explained. "The guards that escorted you inside have had the situation explained to them and have been debriefed on their new location to escort you to."

"Well then, let us not keep the girls and dragon waiting, tonight may very well be an excellent bonding experience." Namiro replied with a smile.

Luna nodded and lit up her horn to open the doors again. "guards... escort our guest to the room he will be sharing with Sir Spike." Both of the guards saluted and the Private brought his hand up to politely tell the changeling to follow their lead.

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

The walk was actually nice, they passed several stained-glass windows that seemed to simply be there to add a bit more color to the otherwise sterile-white castle. He couldn't quite tell how long they had been walking, nor did he care, simply that he was enjoying the journey. Moments later he began to hear a slightly-muffled conversation.

"A bodyguard dear? Are you sure?"

"Yes Rarity, Celestia and Luna are having him stay with Spike for the night while we're in Canterlot."

"Whadda we need a fancy shmancy body guard fer? We can handle takin' a trip ta see yer brother and sister in law."

"Yeah! I bet he'll be a wimp just like the other guards that the princesses keep around! I'll show him what a real mare can do!"

Namiro chuckled a little at the mental imagery.

"I bet he'll be super fun and party-rific! The princesses wouldn't send us anywhere with one of those regular grumpy McGrumperson guards that they keep around!" The guards that were escorting him had actually managed to catch that line and were now frowning a bit in unison.

"We can be fun..." The private replied before turning to Namiro. "You believe we have a sense of humor, right? That it's just the job that makes us have to be so serious all the time..."

"Of course I do, you two seem like really cool guys... maybe once all this Crystal Empire business is over we can go to a local spot and just get to know each other."

The private nodded. "I'm private Swift Wing." The private introduced before pointing at the other guard. "He's Corporal Star Sign."

"It's good to know you both, but I can't keep my new potential friends from waiting too long, they might start getting antsy."

"Oh wow! That one was a doozy!"

"Oh my, Pinkie dear, are you all right?"

"I... I think y'all better duck an' cover... A doozie like that might jus' be somethin' we need ta avoid."

"Girls..." Came Twilight's unamused voice. "The last time she had a 'doozie' like that it was something that turned out to be incredibly simple... just unexpected..."

Namiro gave a small chuckle as he stepped up to the door.

"Yeah, it might be a cool doozie like... uh... The princesses assigned us one of those bat pony mares! Do you know how cool that would be?"

The disguised changeling began opening the door, causing all the voices to become silent as he saw a group of mares that matched the colors of the auras he had seen several days prior, making several memories flash across his mind again. He quickly composed himself and looked between all six of them and the lizard-like creature that was standing next to the violet unicorn mare. "Hello everyone, I will be your bodyguard for this journey." He said with a small smile that quickly turned into a concerned frown as the white unicorn mare put a hand to her head and let out a wail before fainting. "That could've gone better..."