Illuminating Aegis: Tales of the Changeling King

Namiro gave a look to each of the ponies flanking him, one a Junior Officer Pegasus while the other was a recruit unicorn. "Any particular reason why you two are following me?"

Private Flash Sentry was the first to speak. "Well... Princess Cadence and her husband, Prince Shining Armor, wanted to make sure that you were good on your word that you weren't here to attack... added to the fact that you didn't try to attack either of us in the castle... she believed it would be a good idea to keep familiar faces instead of new ones."

Namiro waved his hand. "Yeah... I get it, do either of you know a good place to get an energy drink around here?"

"Energy drink?" The pegasus, Second Lieutenant Storm Wind, had asked with a curious look.

"Yeah, I don't like the taste of coffee and I'm not really in the mood for tea right now." Namiro replied. "I need something that'll... well... I actually don't know why I asked for an energy drink but right now I just need something that's not water." He explained before giving the pegasus a strange look. "Why did she put an officer in with the rookie anyway? Is it because both of your ranks would classify you both as rookies?"

The brown-grey pegasus blustered for a few moments before he straightened his uniform. "I am not a rookie... like him."

"Of course you are, if your ranks are anything like the ranks back where I'm from, Sentry here is a new recruit for what would equate to either the army or marines, while you are an officer fresh out of Officer Candidate School." Namiro examined, placing a hand on his chin. "You've had about as much actual battle experience as Sentry, you've certainly had training to understand the battle... but you've never been in one." That let the pegasus seethe a little as he fell silent. Namiro gently pet his back. "Don't worry, you still get to hang out with me, and knowing my luck... you'll get battle experience soon enough."

"How do you know?" Sentry asked with a quirked brow.

"Because, I've been able to nearly-complete my training as a Force Guardian, uninterrupted. That means that either I have incredible luck, or the next battle I'm in is going to be extremely difficult, with the groups of roleplaying that I've been part of, it's much more likely to be the latter."

Nikolaus chuckled quietly to himself as he listened to his friend's explanation, combining more earthy tones to his outfit alongside the Force Sneak skill he was able to avoid the changeling's detection so far. "so my friend... on this world you become a changeling... how... interesting." He mulled it over as he took a sip of the warm tea that he had ordered. "Yet how fitting... always willing to learn and change... This will be an interesting little game." He mutters as he pulls out the heart token from Rin and a flat hexagram-shaped holocron. He brought the heart up closer to his beak and whispered a message to it. "Rin... I may have need of your forces, and bring the big guy, I think he'll enjoy taking down Sith." He smiled as he watched the changeling and his two-pony entourage continue around the city. He may not have found the necromancy to be tasteful, but she had explained to him that it wasn't bringing someone back from the beyond... simply using the resources just floating around. He may not have been a Je'daii, but it was still in poor taste to bring someone back from the beyond. He let out a small sigh as he gazed up at the evening sky, unlike his attentive friend he had heard the announcements from the Element bearers that the Crystal Fair was going to be held in a few days' time. "they're working quickly... perhaps... too quickly..." He thought with worry. "Sombra will be forced to speed up his plans... or the girls themselves may get sloppy..." He looks back to the street, noticing the smiles of the ponies around him and frowns a little. "I hate to involve her in this... but we may need Rin's help against... Them..."

With a fluid motion he got up from his seat and wrapped his cloak over his wings and shoulders, pulling up the hood to cover most of his face as he continued along his way. His cloak billowed a little as he made sure to keep a swift pace, he could already feel the two sources of tainted dark side energy flowing into the city. "The shield isn't strong enough anymore... not with the Prince out of commission."

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

Namiro sat back as he finished his sip of the Wyssin tea his new friend had introduced him to. "Wow... this... is really what I needed..." He sighed as he took a deep breath and let it out slowly through his nose.

Flash Sentry smiled, his helmet sitting off to the side as he took his own drink. "See, what did I tell you? you just needed to unwind a little, like lieutenant grumpy-pants over there." he giggled a bit at his own joke.

Storm Wind, who's cup of tea remained untouched, shot a small glare at the two blushing stallions. "That's because I still have standards and don't resort to this intoxicant while I'm on duty." He growls. "If anything you should be reported over this."

"Storm..." Namiro said with a slight slur. "You need to chill the hell out... You two are my foalsitters for as long as Cadence wants you to watch me... as much as I don't like using the term... Flash here knows that I'm not just going to be stupid enough to nom his neck while I'm feeling this... this... euphoric..." With a yawn the large changeling leans back against the booth seat. "Besides... I bet you wish you could get some of your princesses..." He says with a slight smirk.

"What the blazes are you talking about?" Storm asked as he gave the changeling a frustrated look.

"Celestia may not be my type, but I'm fairly confident that if you were given the chance to be with one of the princesses, no strings attached, you'd do it... I'm betting you'd go for Celestia though, that soft aura, that divine figure... I'm just glad that you guys use completely-natural sweeteners otherwise there would be a much bigger problem to deal with than what the royal sweet tooth wants for the day."

That... managed to shut the Lieutenant up with a blush. "You know... I'm surprised you're not trying to knock me the hell out." The Wyssin-addled changeling said as he gave the Lieutenant a look. "I'm trying to actually see where your buttons are and despite having the fighting prowess of a toddler, you guys have the discipline to rival the military back home... then again, back home I would've been going home already with three fractured bones and quite possibly a bloody face." He looked back at his once-injured left arm. "Though... I'm slightly interested in testing out just how durable I am... if anything I should have died from blood loss."

"I was actually wondering about that myself... How did you not die?" Flash asked.

"A mixture of Force Heal and my own Changeling ability... I think..." Namiro admitted.

"Are you going to the festival?" the orange unicorn asked, much to the Royal Changeling's confusion.

"What festival?"

"The Crystal Heart Festival, the Element Bearers have been going around town announcing that they're going to get the festival ready in a few days."

"Huh..." Namiro replied. "I should probably go to that, it might be nice."

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

The first twenty-four hours in the Crystal Empire hadn't been all that special, Namiro had actually noticed that the Crystal Ponies were smiling a bit more now that the Elements had announced the festival. What had surprised him most was that a large portion of the ponies here were familiar with the Changeling Race in general while a few of the more adventurous Crystal Ponies must have been far more comfortable with them since more than one approached him to see if they could feed him some love after such a long dry spell under the iron fist of their old King. While he had politely turned down the offers, several made sure to leave some form of contact information so he could get back in touch if he ever wanted a night in the Empire.

...That had been embarrassing when he had been approached by one of the staff of the Crystal Palace who had asked him without realizing the Princess had been in the room. The maid had fled the room with a blush that rivaled Cadence's while the princess of love looked at him with shock.

For his part, Namiro simply shrugged. "It's been like that the whole time... mares, stallions... all of them see a changeling and see it as a way to relieve some stress." At her indignant look he shrugged again. "Patina and I have an open relationship, I'd still rather be with someone who's in it for the long haul instead of a one-night-fling."

"I don't know how you managed to trick the populace-...."

"Not trick, simply walked among... there's a difference. They... are trying to get in MY pants... not the other way around. Technically, since I'm Force-Sensitive I don't need to feed either." Namiro interrupted. "Anyways... I better get back to Pinkie, she said something about a tasting contest and I'm rather curious about what she's baking."

He left a flabbergasted pink pony princess in the middle of the room just as Rarity, Applejack and Twilight had returned. "Uh... Cadence... are you okay?"

"I... have never seen... any other pony with such a disregard for royalty..." Cadence replied as if in a stupor, while Twilight was a bit confused Rarity managed to have some dawning realization.

"Was he... Was he rude to you your highness?"

Cadence shook her head to try and regain her composure. "I... I guess you could say that, he certainly doesn't hold any deference to the ruling class... despite... or probably because of... being a king himself."

"That is no excuse for him to be rude, I shall speak to this ruffian myself!" Rarity seethed before marching out the door with Twilight in nearby pursuit.

"Rarity! What are you doing?"

"Giving that good for nothing changeling a piece of my mind! One does not simply dismiss my friends, yes Twilight I consider Cadence to be a friend to all of us, and then walk about like it isn't a big deal." Rarity replied. "Besides, he was brought on this trip to protect us as well as asked by this 'Patina' to protect your brother. How much of either of those has he been doing while you and the rest of us have been frantically searching for The Crystal Heart?"

Twilight sighed in defeat. "None of it... but... Celestia told me that I had to do this alone..."

Rarity rolled her eyes. "I'm starting to get the feeling that none of us care about that little rule, if this is such a big deal you should really take the advice you gave dear Applejack when she became so workaholic." The mare frowned as she noticed the changeling walking around the square, said frown deepening as yet another crystal pony spoke with him before he waved them away with a smile. "Darling, I'm going to need you to not interfere with this... please... it's for your own good." Rarity seemed to hiss.

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

Namiro chuckled to himself as he put away the mailing address that the Crystal earth mare had given him. His eyes clouded a little in thought though as he thought back to his talk with Cadence. "I shouldn't have just left her like that... but she did initially throw me across a room... and threatened to imprison me just for being a changeling... but... they did recently get over a scare about changelings... Damnit! Why did this have to be such a confusing issue?" He was snapped out of his thoughts as a white hand grabbed the lip of his chest chitin and pulled him down to awkwardly bend as he came face to face with the Element of Generosity... and she was pissed.

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

Twilight stood wide-eyed at her friend, who had simply turned the changeling to face her and began scolding him about his behavior in the Crystal Empire. What had been even more surprising was his response when she had finished her little tirade.

The changeling blinked owlishly at her as his mind digested the scolding he had just received from the element of Generosity about how he shouldn't be so rude to a princess even if he is royalty himself. When he finally was given a chance to speak he took a small breath. "You... are absolutely right Miss Rarity, I... I haven't quite felt... myself since I arrived here. I really should apologize to her, although it may take a while for me to get over being threatened with imprisonment just because of my race. It really wouldn't be much different than you being arrested simply because you are a unicorn." Namiro straightened himself and patted down his chest chitin. "I... My vision has been clouded, I can sense the Dark Side and it's starting to affect how I've been acting."

Both mares were stunned as he quietly turned and continued walking. "Be sure to find everything you need for the Crystal Fair that you are looking to set up... The ponies here are counting on you six."

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

Namiro sat on the roof of a house within the city, something about this place had forced him to act so... differently. Being in the castle upset the emotions he could feel, being near the edge of the barrier got him the same result. He placed a hand to his head before his ears twitched. "I know you're there Pinkie..."

"Woah... you must be really good at hide and seek!" The party pony replied as she sat down next to the changeling. "so... what'cha up here for?" She asked curiously.

"Well... I..." He lets out a sigh. "I have a bad feeling about being here..."

"What kind of bad feeling? Cuz I see you got a frown, and it's my job to turn frowns upside down!" Pinkie proclaimed proudly.

Namiro gave a small smile as he looked the mare over. "Yeah, I could tell by all those balloons you have sewn into your outfit." He went back to looking over the landscape with a slight frown. "But that's the thing... Just beyond this shield that is covering the city we have a monster just waiting to ruin the lives of everyone here."

"But Twilight and our friends, and you too don't forget, are here to stop him! We're gonna kick that meanie pants out and make sure he doesn't hurt any other ponies." She gets up and holds her hand out to him. "And then we're gonna bring you back to Ponyville so I can give you a 'Welcome To Ponyville' party... or a 'happy you're not trying to conquer Equestria' party... maybe both. Either way it'll let me test out my new party cannon!" She beamed as he took her hand, smiling the whole time.

"I'd love to have a 'Welcome to Ponyville' party." He says before holding up a finger. "On one condition though..."

"What's that?"

"My queen gets to come as well, She doesn't get out of the Hive enough and I'd love to have her finally meet her father."

"Of course it's okay! We'll even make the party for her too! Oh wow... I gotta make a lot of cake, since it's gonna be a huge party!" She gasped before seeming to rocket off and flip the bird to the laws of physics simply by the virtue of her existing.

Namiro sighed once again as he found himself drawn towards one of the abandoned mineshafts. "Perhaps I could find a crystal to forge a proper saber with..." He mumbled as he quickly descended the home and sprinted towards the crystal mine. Once inside the mine Namiro could simply feel how saturated with The Force that these crystals were, none of the ones near the surface called to him though... they spoke of other names, sometimes even other tongues, but none of the ones so close spoke to him. He could hear it faintly... one that began to speak to him... whispering his name as he let The Force guide him through the mine along the tracks. Each step made the whisper become louder in his head, each call to him leading him deeper and deeper into the mine until he finally found himself standing in front of a lime-green outcropping of crystals. The cacophony of sound reduced once more to a whisper on the wind as he looked over the huge crystal vein.

what caught his attention were the three smaller crystals that looked as if they were perfect for the taking, no... begging to be removed from their fairly dark home and brought to the field of battle. They were not impatient... but neither were they silent like the crystal in his saber already. "As if I have a lightfoil in my possession instead of a true saber." They wanted to be used, only when necessary though.

He gently held his hand out below the three crystals. With a chiming crack each gem fell into his open palm. Each one radiated a calm, eager feeling as they finally found the warrior who would use them to their true potential. He closed his hand around each one as he felt The Force flow through them and into him. "Each one has a different purpose... only one will be used as a blade..." he realized as he was stowing the gems away in one of the pockets of his one-piece outfit. "Perhaps... the force seeks to counsel me as well..." He let his feet walk on autopilot as his mind began to get lost in thought once again.

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

Namiro hesitated as he reached the mouth of the cave, the city had grown oddly silent despite it being midday. He looked around in confusion a little just before noticing that the shield around the city was starting to fade. "...That can't be good..." He groaned as he took off towards the castle.