Illuminating Aegis: Tales of the Changeling King

Through the burning hunger Namiro had realized he was sealed in a place with no connection to The Force, he wasn't afraid anymore though... the nightmarish vision around him had faded to little more than a blur as he passed through once his simulated emotions began to run dry. He couldn't even say he was bored because that would be an emotion to simulate as well, he felt... out of place... Without his constant connection to The Force he began to notice how most of the destruction and devastation was likely caused by his doppelganger in this world... the logical part of his mind had already debunked the world as nothing more than smoke and mirrors since a world with no creatures to use The Force would starve any remaining changelings.

It would also get very boring, very quickly... much as this fake world had.

The large changeling took a seat on what appeared to be a large boulder and began to think. "To be one with The Force... one must believe that The Force is always there... and that The Force will always find a way..." he mentally recited as he evened his breathing, thinking back to the lessons he had taken with Rin and her top warrior; Cluck Norris. A smile gently wormed its way onto his face as he brought up a mental picture of the two. It was that moment that the world seemed to shift, letting him sense the two other beings now standing in front of him.

The dream-construct Rin gave him a small smile, though it turned to a frown of concern when she had tried to speak. It seemed that no one in the nightmare/dream/thing that he was in could make sound. Even his own hoofsteps had been utterly silent as he walked along the battlefield. Due to the silence it had become easy to ignore the world, even his hunger made no sound and caused slight discomfort. With a small smile he thought up a table and one game that he had remembered particularly from his childhood.

With some luck the pieces on the game, and even the game board itself were able to retain the familiar red, green, blue and yellow colorations. With a small smile Namiro chose the green pieces, Cluck the red and Rin took the yellow. From there the most intense game of silent "Sorry" began to be played in what appeared to be a jazz-era inspired smoke-in room. Each player had a glass of water and a small bowl of peanuts to boot.

After about five minutes Cluck was the first to bet a peanut, Namiro raised him two. Seeing the challenges and refusing to back down Rin raised the stakes to five peanuts each.

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

Namiro wiped his brow as he took a deep breath, he was only six paces out on his last piece while Cluck had a similar situation, It was Rin's turn to play and by the way she had immediately smirked when she looked at her card the Changeling could only guess that she had drawn the dreaded 'Sorry' card. Now it was up in the air, both of her opponents were on the cusp of victory and despite being in last place she could still decide who would still have a chance to make it to the finish first... and who would be sent home in bitter agony.

If only he had the stoic ease that the damn chicken seemed to radiate. It would take more than Armageddon to to even make a dent in that stoic facade. If it hadn't been for the fact the two of them had trained for what felt like months then Namiro certainly wouldn't have noticed the almost miniscule beads of sweat that were forming on the brow of the one-chicken-army. Namiro almost smirked as he realized that his poultry opponent realized just how much trouble he could have as well if she sent the one piece in her home after his one shot at victory.

She placed the card...

... both of her opponents' jaws dropped...

...somehow she had won the round...

Namiro blinked his eyes as he picked up the card in disbelief, not even caring as the chicken scrambled up to his shoulder while the kitsune sat with a smug smile on her face.

"I Win"

If your opponents have exactly one piece remaining outside of a safe zone while you have one piece in the safe zone, one in your home and two in play your forces surround your opponents' forces after destroying their homes in order to create a perfect pincer attack formation and dominate the battlefield. You win the Round.

Cluck Norris looked like he let out a squawk of irritation as he quickly got down and flipped the table.

"That was a bunch of bull... but... why's the card look exactly like it was part of the game?" Namiro replied as he sat in confusion and stared at the card. His thoughts drifted long enough for him to realize he was no longer sitting in the jazz room... no longer with his mentor and friends... nowhere but in a void, the hunger was back, it hurt... but... it didn't hurt at the same time. The quiet of the void that he was in finally set in as he realized the ringing in his ears that he had heard for most of his life wasn't even there to annoy him... At the moment... he was truly alone.

He thought back to his family, he had no idea what happened to them... he had no idea what happened to any of his friends except for Nick and even he had moved on to take over a country and was already training dark Jedi. His entire body went cold as his thoughts drifted to what his parents and little sister may have been reacting to what seemed like him just disappearing into thin air for no damn reason. He wanted to be angry, angry at the vendor who had sold his friends the datapads, angry that they had decided to go to that con, angry that... well... angry that he couldn't find the motivation for himself to become angry. If anything he was more ready to break down and sob until he got these emotions out.

Despite any of the bad things that had happened he still had it much better than what could have happened when he appeared. After being told about other Displaced who had been sent to their respective Equestrias and had been imprisoned for over ten centuries he certainly did thank The Force that his Celestia and Luna were understanding of the Displaced like him.

If only his family were here...

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

A small fire blazed to life as the night fell, a bronze-colored earth pony flicked the cap of his Zippo closed as he looked to the other two occupants of the campsite with a smile on his face. "How's this for a hunting trip, right girls?"

The light-blue pegasus mare, with a mane like cotton candy, giggled a little. "Certainly was a surprise..." She replied as she looked down at the unicorn filly that was dozing in her lap. "How long until we get to the town that map mentioned?"

The stallion sighed. "We still have three days of walking before we arrive..." He rolled open the map he had received once the three of them had woken up on their first night. "But... the marker on the map is showing our destination to be outside of Ponyville... perhaps we'll be able to stop by there and figure out what is going on..."

The mare nodded. "I hope Phillip is okay..."

"He's your son, Alice... He'll be fine." The earth pony replied. "If it weren't for your insistence on him taking those Karate classes when he was younger I'd probably be a bit worried too... but that weirdo with the shawl said he was here somewhere."

"Molly will be happy to see him at least... if we find him..."

"Of course we'll find him Alice, He's our son, how hard could he possibly be to miss in this world?"

"Did you not realize the part of our sudden 'trip' turning us into ponies?" Alice asked with a flat look. "What if he didn't even get changed into a pony, what if he was turned into something else?"

The stallion sighed. "He... will... be... fine... He's twenty-two, he can handle himself if he needs to."

Alice let out her own sigh as the little unicorn filly nuzzled into her side a bit more. "You're right... taking first watch?"

"Absolutely, apparently it's not safe enough to do without until we reach 'whitetail woods'." The stallion replied as he picked up the Remmington M-700 from where he had carefully set it against the log next to him. "Get to bed... I'll wake you in a few hours."

The pegasus mare nodded and shifted so that she was comfortable before she finally drifted off to sleep.

The night itself was quiet and filled with the gentle sounds of crickets chirping as the stallion's ears twitched occassionally, each twitch making sure that there wasn't a predator trying to sneak up on them.