Illuminating Aegis: Tales of the Changeling King

Astral Aegis stood at the exit of the train in his winter weather gear, incredibly happy that he had come so prepared. "Alright everyone, if you're ready, let's get to the city." He called back to the six mares and dragon before he stepped onto the train platform. The disguised changeling's eyes scanned the blizzard before his senses caught onto the determined emotions heading towards him from the north. He pointed his arm out. "Come on, let's meet our escort so we can get there quicker."

"How do you know he's that way?" Twilight asked over the whistling winds.

"Special training, let's get going... leave anything non-essential here." Namiro explained. "Spike! That means most of the luggage!"

Rarity let out a growl as she walked up to Aegis. "I'll have you know, that the luggage my dear Spikey Wikey is carrying is for my career! It is essential to everything I'll be doing!"

"Fine but if it becomes a decision between your life and your luggage, the luggage is going to be collecting snow." Aegis replied as he brought his saber to a ready position and began to make his way off of the platform. "Don't fall behind!"

Rainbow Dash was one of the members of the group who certainly hated the walk that they were taking, Seriously! She wasn't able to fly at all without risking the performance of her wings and it hurt like hell to walk in this cold! She grumbled to herself as she hugged the outfit she had brought tighter, not quite prepared for the cold of this level. She stopped as the group noticed that Astral Aegis walked up to her and took his thick overcoat off, one that Rarity and Applejack were convinced had real fur on it, before he draped it over her.

"Can't have you girls freezing to death out here." He said as the scarf covering his muzzle seemed to take on a smile while he still had the somewhat-thick undershirt on.

"Hey! Twily!" Came a voice that sounded distinctly like a surfer-stereotype or what a douchebag thought was the cool way to sound. Namiro turned quickly and had to bite his lip to keep from laughing as he thought a Hoth rebel soldier was walking towards them. "Twily! How did you girls know that the city was this way?"

The violet unicorn pulled the unicorn stallion in for a hug. "Astral Aegis said he was leading us to yo-..."

"Everyone Run!" Namiro called as he lit up his saber, the girls looked around in confusion before several red blades lit up the area behind them. Shining Armor quickly let Twilight go and mimicked Namiro's call as he drew a small hilt from his waist, it was actually decorated a lot to resemble the hilt of a rapier, to match the green one that Astral Aegis lit up. The chestnut-brown earth pony looked to the heavily-clothed unicorn. "Are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be..." He says with a small breath before he brought his sword up to block the red blade with an ice-blue energy beam. "Nice Lightfoil by the way."

Namiro smirked as he brought his blade to a vertical parry position. "Nope, LightSABER, mine's the real deal."

"Wait... Does that mean..." Shining started as he did a quick slash to the dark-cloaked pony that was holding the blade that was attacking him.

"That I'm a Force-Sensitive... Yes!" Aegis replied as he used a swift Cho Mai maneuver to slice off his opponent's weapon hand, causing the cloaked unicorn to let out a shout of pain before seeming to vanish into the shadows.

"Man... You gotta teach me how to get one of those..." Shining said with an impressed tone as the two of them slowly began moving their way back to town.

"There's only... two... three... five of these guys left, I'll show you once we finish dealing with them."

"STOP IGNORING US!" One of the pegasus-like cloaked ponies shouted as he rushed at the disguised changeling, leaving himself wide open for an attack that brought Aegis' light green blade through his arm. "OH GOD MY ARM!"

"For your information, we're not ignoring you... you're just that unskilled." Shining explained.

Suddenly the two warriors felt a new cold that sent a chill down their spine that wasn't related to the blizzard swirling around them. "Hmm... Unskilled eh...?" Said a smooth voice that simply dripped with venom. "How about I even the odds..."

Shining let out a pained shout as he felt something drive itself into his horn, his eyes watered from the pain that seemed like someone was driving a spike through his skull. He could barely hear the hiss of saber blades as his new ally brought his saber up to strike at several of their attackers. He couldn't let them win here though, with all of his strength he brought himself up to his hooves and began trudging to the city, each step cleared his mind enough to see his friend... ally... was right behind him, the earth pony's lime-green blade cutting smoothly through the air as he kept the group of darksiders back.

Neither of them really noticed how far they had moved until the warm embrace of the shield surrounding the city accepted them both, transforming the landscape around them from a frigid wasteland into a sunny, warm oasis. Aegis and Shining Armor both collapsed onto the ground once inside the barrier, only then did shining armor notice the crystals that were attached to the earth stallion's arm. "W-what?" He panted as he slowly dragged himself up from the dirt.

"it... It's a crystal... that... cuts you off... from the Force..." Namiro panted heavily as his entire world began to spin.

"They're over here girls!"

"Hurry up! They look like they need a hospital!"

Aegis' world slowly blurred as he found himself fading out of consciousness. "...Damnit... Stupid Sith..." he thought with a groan as he faintly registered someone picking him up as he seemed to view their path in flashes. His arm felt painfully-numb as it felt like it was twitching without being able to control it, his left leg began to get that pins-and-needles feeling even though it was his left arm that got the spike in it. His breathing had become quite heavy just before he finally registered being inside a castle, a bit tacky from how it was made completely out of crystal... but it wasn't overly-so. It would've just been more ridiculous if it was a really weird design like a tree or something like that.

Namiro could barely react before the pony that was holding him up was quickly removed from her position, sending him reeling a little as he stumbled. He grunted in pain as something impacted his chest and sent him flying across the room. He let out another groan as he slid across the crystal floor for a few more feet before he felt his emerald-flame transformation set him back to the right size and species.

He blinked a few times and grimaced as he noticed the shocked and angered looks of the various gathered ponies. "Well... shit... there goes the surprise..." he mumbled as he reached for the crystal.

"Cease your moving! By order of the princess of the Crystal Empire you are under arrest, changeling." One of the guards growled.

"On what charges?" Namiro countered. "Am I being arrested because I saved her husband? Should I have left him to die out there in the blizzard when we were attacked?" Namiro wrapped a hand around the crystal. "You'll find that I have done nothing unlawful since I arrived aside from possibly bleeding on the floor... although I would have to apologize to the cleaning staff for that."

Several of the guards cast confused glances between each other before a couple looked to Cadence for the charges.

The pink alicorn mare had a scowl on her face as she remembered her week before the day her wedding was supposed to take place. "Because you changelings invaded Equestria and threatened the royal family. As such you will be tried for your war crimes."

Namiro scoffed before gripping the crystal and quickly yanking it out, gritting his teeth as he dropped to a knee... really wishing he had some sort of anesthetic instead as he could slowly feel some of the numbness being replaced by lancing pain. "Pain is better than numb... just... focus on healing Phillip... focus on healing..." he mentally chanted as he stood back up. "I can tell you exactly why I'm here... and am still willing to complete my mission despite your racist tendencies."

Cadence let out a small scowl as she listened. "Fine, why are you here Changeling?"

Namiro used his right hand to indicate the white unicorn stallion that had several crystals growing on his horn. "Because his daughter had a vision and sent me to protect him."

Except for the soldiers, everyone in the room gasped before the Element bearers and Cadence turned to Shining Armor. For his part, Shining Armor was very eloquent. "...I have a daughter?!" He exclaimed with surprise as he recoiled back, trying to think of how he could possibly have a daughter. "How!? The only mare I've been intimate with was Cadence!"

The pink alicorn actually seemed a little shocked. "You've never been that intimate with me..."

"That's because Chrysalis was disguised as you when Shining lost his virginity... helping the queen to give birth to my mate, Changeling Queen Patina." Namiro explained as he stood up, finally feeling only a small headache as he stood. "She had a vision that her father was in danger and sent me to protect him..."

The guards didn't seem to move, though the Element bearers certainly looked a bit warier of him. Fluttershy was the one who actually spoke. "A-are you going to... be okay...?" She asked hesitantly as she took a half-step forward. "That wound looks pretty bad..."

"I'll be fine... thank you for your concern Fluttershy." Namiro replied with a small nod of his head.

Cadence turned to Namiro. "How can we trust that you are telling the truth? Chrysalis herself lied about her plan, she even impersonated me badly in order to try and conquer my home..."

Namiro frowned. "Because ALL of the changelings that attacked Canterlot on your wedding day are dead. Killed by you and your husband."

"Yet here you stand before us, an example that there are other changelings out there with the possibility that our home could be at risk from you parasites again." Cadence growled as she tried to keep most of her focus on the shield around the city.

"The only hive remaining in existence belongs to Shining Armor's daughter. Would she send me here to protect her father if she wanted to conquer Equestria?"

"To lower our guard and keep us weak."

Namiro shook his head with a sigh. "This is stupid, I've done nothing wrong, I saved your husband from whatever dark side power is out there and trying to get in AND I nearly lost my life doing it... I don't even get a simple 'thank you for keeping the prince of the empire safe' out of this so I'm just going to leave because clearly extra help is not appreciated." He huffed before reaching towards his discarded lightsaber and using the force to bring it back to his hand. He winced a little before clipping it back to his belt. "Call me when you are finished being a racist arse Cadence." He grumbled as he began to march his way out of the building... taking several turns... followed by a pair of guards the whole way... until he finally realized something...

"You, orange... what's your name?" Namiro snapped to one of the Crystal empire guards.

"Uh... F-flash Sentry..." The recruit stuttered out before the other guard used a wing to cuff the private in the back of the head.

"How do I get out of here, I was fading in and out of consciousness when I was brought in so I'm thoroughly lost."

The two guards looked at the changeling with mild surprise. "Down this hall, second door to the left leads back to the main hall that you were in with the Elements and the Princess... the big, open doors across from you will be the way out into the courtyard."

The Royal Changeling rubbed his chin a little with his right hand, flexing his left hand against his side as feeling was starting to come back. "I see... Well... I'll be in town." He says before striding out the aforementioned door and then across the room, much to the surprise of the mares he had arrived with, before making his way out onto the street.

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

Twilight turned to her old babysitter with a slightly confused look. "You were going to arrest him just because he was a changeling?"

The pink alicorn let out a sigh. "I... No... It's just, for those two weeks I was trapped in that cave with Chrysalis taunting me about replacing me... I thought she had been bluffing that she had taken Shining's virginity..." She looked over to the blushing ex-guard captain with a sigh. "It wasn't any sort of experience that I would like to have again any time ever..."

"I get that Cadence, but he's actually a changeling! A changeling that isn't hostile to Equestria! Do you know how much research I could do with him? About him? Or even about the changeling race as a whole?"

"Wow Twily... you're uh... you're taking the whole... 'you've been travelling the past day and a half with a changeling'-thing pretty well..." Shining said with a slight smile.

"That's because I get a new chance at studying something new! I never got to study any of the changelings that invaded Canterlot, and if what he's saying is actually true then we were really close to having the changelings go extinct! I just have to study him!"

"What about the test you're supposed to be doing here in the empire dear?"

"Yeah, y'all are supposed ta be helpin' make sure that Sombra feller don't come back into the Crystal Empire."

Twilight let out a small groan as she looked between her friends and the door that Namiro had walked out of. She grimaced a little as her mind tried to decide on what she wanted to do. "If he's here to help he'll still be here after Sombra is dealt with..." She finally decided as she turned to her friends. "Yeah... Let's deal with Sombra first."