Illuminating Aegis: Tales of the Changeling King

Sombra let out a howl of pain as another black tendril lashed across his almost-nude form, the glistening ebony tendril left an angry scar across his back as it struck. Several similar scars adorned his form, one was even bleeding as his once-immaculate coat of shimmering charcoal black was now marked with several red or pale scars. He kept his gaze fixed on the ground as he grit his teeth, another tendril lashed out because of his earlier howl.

It was how his life had become after his fall... He found a new master, a new Sith Lord... and he was punished for making even a squeak out of line. Lashed across the face for saying anything aside from "I deserve this, master" or any other phrases where he accepted his harsh master's demands. Letting out any sound of pain or discomfort would earn him another lash, failure of a mission would earn ten, some would even bleed from being struck in the same place more than once. Only once had he received praise, and even then it had been hollow...

"You nearly spoiled the surprise Sombra..." a voice growled from the darkness. Sombra closed his eyes as he prepared to receive yet another strike. "But... His master hesitated, relaxing the tendril and continuing as if she was ignoring him. "...This message could spur on the Princesses if Rin spoke with them... She hasn't even told the Changeling of what Sombra said specifically..." Sombra could feel the smile in his master's voice. "Yes... This could be just the nudge we need, with Nikolaus pushing the changeling towards the Dark Side already... it will only be a matter of time before he is mine..."

Sombra collapsed to the ground as his master unlatched the shackles keeping him hung in the center of the room. He quickly scrambled to his hands and knees in his usual position of servitude. "Would you like me to send a message, Master?" He winced a little as he heard one of the tendrils draw closer.

"Seek out the one named Trixie... give her this amulet... I believe you may enjoy the little family reunion."

Sombra quickly looked up, getting only a glimpse of the amulet before he spoke. "Family?" He reeled back as one of the semi-transparent tentacles slashed across his face, making him hiss in pain as a warm liquid ran down his cheek.

"Yes... Family..." His master replied with that same smiling tone.

"Y-yes, master... your will be done." Sombra managed to say with a growl as he reached out for the amulet his master had presented. "What am I to tell her of its effects?"

His master let out a chuckle. "Simply let her know it will make her stronger even than Celestia... I will do the rest."

"Of course, Master..." Sombra replied as he slowly got into a standing bow and began to back away. He turned and snapped his fingers, his horn lit up for a few seconds as the armor he had worn in the Battle of the Crystal City seemed to simply melt onto him from the shadows. A frown etched onto his face as he left his master's sanctuary, his mind full of nothing... that way his master could not spy on what he was actually thinking. "...f-family?" he seemed to repeat over and over again as he quietly made his way back to the surface of the world and disguised himself as a plain dark-orange pegasus.

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

Namiro held Patina close as they walked to the entrance of their new home, a hive located just beneath Ponyville. The entrance was still a little ways outside of Ponyville, due to occupying the old Diamond Dog den that used to be in the area, but for the most part the ponies of Ponyville seemed... less than scared over it. Sure there had been the death threats that Namiro had expected, he wouldn't have had any problem with that though, but the thing that had thrown him off the most was just how jaded the ponies of Ponyville seemed to be now that the Bearers of the Elements were well-known public heroes and how monsters seemed to attack the town every other week. It was... definitely surreal to know that after the first panicked sprint indoors, the fact that the changelings were being led by the Elements instead of leading them seemed to get the ponies out of their homes and more curious about the prospect of changelings being so close by.

"You know... I knew that Twilight told me the ponies here would be fine with us being neighbors... but I really can't say I expected them to adjust this well, this quickly..." Namiro said as he hugged Patina a bit closer.

"Well... we are providing a valuable service to Ponyville... all for free..." His queen replied with a giggle as she looked back towards the hive entrance. "We might not get to the same size that my mother had when she had invaded Canterlot... I certainly hope we never get that big... but we'll be able to keep the hive fed." She smirked a little as she nuzzled against him again. "A certain alicorn told me that you've got the hots for a certain bookworm in this town..."

Namiro chuckled. "She's got the hots for me... but... I wouldn't mind indulging her if she wanted to. Though I believe she would rather I looked like Astral Aegis again."

"I bet she's read up completely on the Ponysutra... It's always the quiet ones that have the weirdest fetishes after all."

"How do you even know about either of those things? I thought you were just a couple years old?"

Patina gave him a look. "Hive mind... My body may not be older than most school-age foals but my mind is completely that of an adult." She flicked his nose with her tail. "You know... ever since you molted out of the Proto stage you've gotten to look so handsome with that crest of yours. Do you think Rin turned you down because she's a lesbian?"

Namiro blinked a few times. "Why do you think she turned me down?"

"She could very likely have fed you just on friendly cuddles... admittedly she would've had to do that for a few hours straight if it was meant to be a platonic friendship... but the fact that she had you arrange to bring someone with you the next time you set up the training means she might not be interested in stallions... you think she likes to be the one in the dominant position?"

"I... you... What's got your mind on sex all of a sudden?" Namiro stuttered as he blushed, tinting his dark-green chitin with a nice rosy-red color.

"Sorry... It's the link, with our race simply running a restaurant-style bordello it's just becoming the most efficient way to harvest love and keep the hive fed." She sighed as she nuzzled him again. "With so many of our infiltrators focused on harvesting love instead of hiding for their lives the link has started getting creative in the ways we extract pleasure and lust..."

"I overheard while I was in that section of the hive... It sounded like they were reciting off a menu at a restaurant." He chuckled again. "Though, I think we should start charging a bit. While we only need what we can make, we'll need some method of income to blow on frivolities... Get a waterbed only to replace the water mattress with your slime bed, deck out the rooms we use for love harvesting so that ponies can feel a mix of their world and ours... buy some art and stuff so that we can have decorations for non-harvesting visitors."

"Of course, love..." Patina replied as she kissed his cheek. "Now get going, I believe you've got a couple hours before your date and I spoke with miss Rarity to get you fitted for a suit in your earth stallion form."

Namiro hefted himself off of the stone bench he had shaped when they started their new hive. "You know... if you keep spoiling me like this it might lead to us being bad role models for our hive." He let out an involuntary yelp as the queen smacked his flank.

"Just get going, be a good boy and play nice with the fashionista."

"No promises, she'd probably throw me out of the store if she ever visited our harvesting center." Namiro laughed as he started the trek to Ponyville. He hadn't been lying when he said they needed to start charging... they were basically advertising a hotel that lets you feed changelings... all for free... it was like a petting zoo full of bug-ponies... that happened to be able to shapeshift into whatever you wanted. The changeling king blinked in surprise as he realized just how weird some of the requests could possibly get. It was a good thing that Equestrians actually practiced a policy of surprisingly-affordable healthcare. "...That's probably how Applejack's grandma was around for the founding of the town..." he muttered as he made his way into town, idly waving at a few ponies as he strolled through town. "I can't help but feel something bad is going to happen... this transition is going way too smoothly..." he thought with slight suspicion as he continued walking down the road towards Carousel boutique.

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

"Namiro... Aegis... whatever you want to call yourself... could you please stop moving? It's hard to get the pins just right if you keep doing so."

"Well if you'd stop poking me with them to see if I can still feel my chitin I'd probably stop moving around so much!"

"I swear, you're more fussy than Rainbow Dash."

"Hey!"

"Not now Dash, I'm trying to finish up our 'friend's' suit."

"You had the measurements an hour ago, you had the suit itself prepped before I arrived! How could we possibly need more time on this?"

Rarity gave a huff as she straightened up. "You have an absolutely terrible fashion sense darling, Twilight already got her dress and I don't want you to ruin either ensemble by having your outfit be... sub-par. My work is always to be my next greatest creation! Moving forward to bigger and better projects."

Namiro let out a sigh as he looked at the still-blushing Rainbow Dash. He mentally chuckled as he remembered the look on her face when he had transformed in front of them both, he did give them fair warning that he didn't have any clothes that fit his stallion size. The first thing Rarity had done was sew him up a set of underwear... more like a loincloth but it honestly didn't matter to him. As a changeling he practically walked around naked anyway, oddly enough there was typically enough fur on a pony's body that they could walk around with nothing on and it wouldn't have been a problem. Rarity made sure to end that little trend as often as possible, putting on sales and special deals as long as it got ponies in her outfits or allowed her to customize one for them.

Even Rainbow Dash was more often in a form-fitting outfit with a sports bra that helped streamline her look and reduce wind drag. The first time Namiro had commented on it she blushed and practically strutted like a peacock at the compliment. The blush she was sporting now though... Her face was practically dyed a reddish-purple color when she had seen his transformation. Her wings had flared up immediately and she tried to act like she wasn't impressed.

He had later found out when he spoke to Big Mac that he and the changeling were officially at the 'most virile'-looking of stallions in Ponyville.

Who was he to complain though? Changelings had to appear attractive to get love, so it certainly made sense. There also seemed to be something about darker, more earth-toned coats on stallions that just drove mares wild. Namiro smirked as Rainbow Dash made eye contact with him again, practically forcing her wings to flare out with an audiable 'fwip' sound before she turned away, struggling to get her small wings under control. That was another thing that had given him pause throughout the days that he had been staying in Ponyville... Luna and Celestia, even Patina and him, had huge wings... very majestic in the case of the princesses... Yet the regular pegasus ponies' wings seemed like they should have been vestigial. Pegasai were more than capable of keeping themselves aloft though with wings the size of a swan's when they were full grown.

...There had to be magical shenanigans involved. Pegasus kids had wings the same size as free range chicken wings but more than half of them were able to fly.

And then there was the shit about being able to walk on clouds! That was shenanigans if he ever saw it.

"Aaannnd... Done!" Rarity cheered, breaking Namiro's train of thought. "See what happens when you keep your mind on a pretty mare instead of the outfit?"

"What?" Namiro stumbled as he looked at the fashion mare.

Rarity flipped her mane with a smile. "While Rainbow Dash may not be the most elegant of mares, I can see that you quite enjoyed staring at her wings."

"I was debating in my head why the Princesses have a much larger and natural-looking wingspan than a regular pegasus..."

"Of course you were Darling." Rarity replied with a knowing smile. "Now, because your mate Patina arranged some gems as payment for this suit... and at the moment your hive is a non-profit organization... I've decided to discount this outfit for you. Consider it a gift towards helping to... mend our relationship." She smiles innocently. "After all, with my help you'll have some style yet." She took a deep breath and let it out a few seconds later. "Do be gentle with Twilight, this is her first relationship after all." The white mare cooed before pulling the stallion so his muzzle was only a few inches from hers. "Because if you so much as hurt her in any way I'll make sure you go back to the badlands and pray to whatever divine you pray to that I don't find you again." She had a near-manic grin. "Am I clear?"

"...crystal..."

"Good!" Rarity replied as she straightened up with her innocent smile. "Ta ta darling!" The disguised changeling bolted out of that shop like his life depended on it.

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

Namiro took a deep breath as he stood outside of the door to Shady Oaks library, "Okay... I can do this... it's not like I'm risking my life due to this being the student of the Solar Diarch, friend of the Lunar Diarch and friend of half a dozen very strong and protective mares..." He lets out the breath as a sigh before he knocked on the door to the Library.

"It's open!" Was Spike's call from inside. "It IS a library after all!"

Namiro gently pushed open the door with a smile. "It's also someone's place of residence so it's only polite to knock before entering..."

Spike rolled his eyes before going back to the comic he was reading on the far side of the lounge area. "Whatever..." Spike dismissed. "Twilight's almost ready for your date, I'm actually a bit surprised she agreed..."

"Don't worry Spike, I'm surprised as well. Ponies simply have been a very xenophobic species their entire lives... And I really understand why..."

"What do you mean?" Spike asked.

Namiro walked over to the lounge area and sat down across from the now-attentive dragon. "Well, I can assume that you know ponies are herbivores... right?" At Spike's nod he continued. "Good, then you would also know that they are surrounded by a lot of predator species... Dragons, Griffons, I don't know if Minotaurs count but I know that Changelings do... Ponies are a prey species, so they would naturally get skittish around so many sharp claws and teeth."

"But... they're just fine around me..." Spike countered.

"That's because you're domesticated, you're docile... you won't kill them because you are hungry. They don't know if a strange Griffon, Dragon or Diamond Dog will make a meal out of them just because they're hungry." Namiro replied with a smile. "Even I have a tendency from time to time to want to feed off of these ponies, I don't have to... but I still can... I think that's why I produce more refined love than any other changeling in the hive..."

"Refined... love?"

"It's the food for changelings that we store away because our bodies don't consume it immediately." The disguised changeling explained. "I've found out that most changelings burn about a quart of refined love a day when ample supply is available. I haven't quite been able to test how much I need but Patina actually manages about three to five times that amount depending on what she has to do."

"Fascinating..." The earth pony and dragon turned to see the Violet-colored unicorn standing at the base of the steps leading up to the residential area. "Sorry... I just... this is a perfect opportunity to learn about a new culture!"

Spike chuckled. "If she had the ability to not get eaten by a full grown dragon she'd ask them so many questions that they would wonder why they hadn't eaten her."

"Oh hush!" Twilight scolded as she flicked him with her tail as she passed the little dragon. "I'll be back by ten, make sure you're in bed Spike."

"Yes Mom..." He sighed as he picked up his comic again.

Twilight turned to face the rather dapper-looking changeling. "Wow... Rarity really made you look good."

"You would expect any less of your friend?" Namiro chuckled.

"Of course not!" Twilight huffed a little as she took his arm and escorted him out of the library. "It's just... you look good."

"Thank you Twilight... you look good as well." He could taste the strawberry-sweet flavor of her embarrassment and attraction, it was certainly going to be an interesting night out.