Illuminating Aegis: Tales of the Changeling King

Phillip took a deep breath, his eyes darted to each of the stalagmite-esque pillars of hardened goo, each pillar had one thin stone balanced on top of it. With another breath he raised the hilt for his lightsaber, the Avenger-model shape fitting smoothly in both of his hands as he used his right thumb to press the activator button and let his blade make a hiss as the beam of light extended out a meter in length before it began to hum contentedly.

Several changeling drones had gathered in the large chamber the new King had requested, their curiosity piqued as they saw the lime-green blade emerge from what many thought was a mace he was holding upside down. Several sets of wings fluttered eagerly as the nearly two-meter tall Changeling King let the blade spin once in a circle next to him as if trying to get used to the gyroscopic effect that resisted the blade's arc.

Namiro let his mind drift back to Starswirl's previous lecture...

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

The grey unicorn had a similarly colored grey saber lit in his hands as the two of them stood in the middle of separate rings. Both of them were surrounded by candlesticks, each one having a lit candle and all at various heights. "This is where you begin your learning of Cadences..."

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

He let out a breath as his blade began to swing, feeling The Force directing him as the blade quickly sliced the first two stones, the momentum of the blade simply making both of the remaining halves collapse onto each other in a neat pile as he continued. For the third and fourth he leapt into the air on each one, letting a smooth, flowing swing cut each one vertically so that they would land parallel to each other. He landed in a crouch, his blade immediately sweeping in a short arc to cut the top of another stone plate. Proceeding into a handspring backwards his saber lunged for a plate and stabbed it in the center, quickly pulling out of the stone and forcing it to fall backwards before he stood up and swung his saber behind him, letting the blade stop at shoulder level. He turned to see his saber embedded halfway in the last stone plate and he gave a small smirk before pressing the activation button again to have the saber hiss as the blade retracted back into its hilt.

The plate wobbled a little before finally toppling over, letting Namiro take a satisfied breath as he began to relax a little just before the sound of applause reached his ears. He looked around in confusion to notice the rather large audience his 'dance' had attracted. He began to blush as Patina approached him, smiling gently.

"Where did you learn such an interesting fighting style?" She asked with piqued interest as she eyed the deactivated lightsaber.

"It's not quite a fighting style..." Phillip admitted as he lifted his free hand up to have all of the cut stone plates hover slowly away from the small pillars he was practicing on. "It was a technique used to help balance one's self with The Force... They're called Faalo's Cadences... but I wasn't able to properly set them up since we don't quite have the right materials."

"What materials do you need?" Patina eyed the stalagmite-like  platforms that the stone plates had been on.

"Well..." Namiro started, scratching the back of his head. "The primary item I would need are candles and candle sticks... after that about a hundred and ninety ball bearings... That's just for practicing the first cadence though... A LOT more are needed for the next two." He clipped the saber to the covertech belt system at his side and let out another sigh. "I... I'm actually nervous about doing just the first cadence... Nineteen candles... One hundred nintey ball bearings... the whole thing takes about an hour to complete if done right."

"Is there any kind of special rule for these 'cadences' that you are practicing?"

"For the first three you're not allowed to strike the candles or else you've failed." Phillip explained. "The target for the fourth one is the candles themselves... and the fifth is the hardest of all... I have to telekinetically control my saber and strike at the ball bearings in a very specific order." He took a deep breath. "One cadence at a time though... have to work with the first to refine my control of my saber."

Patina looked thoughtful for a few moments before she snapped her fingers. "That's it!" She smiled brightly, showing off two cute fangs. "There's a town not too far from here that I've had infiltrators in for a month or so now, they took on completely original identities so that they wouldn't have to worry as much about being detected as fakes."

"What's the name of the place?" Namiro asked as he picked up his robe.

"It's called Hardersfield, the place is practically a subsistence ghost town, but they may be able to help get the materials you need."

Namiro smiled as he brought his robe up to cover his head. "That's good... I'll be back soon then..." He says quietly as he leans towards the slightly taller mare and pulls her head down to place a kiss on her muzzle, which she returns with a slight moan as she pulls him into a warm hug.

"...I'll be counting the minutes, love..." Patina whispers, making Phillip chuckle.

"I'm sure you will, take care." He says quietly before letting himself become engulfed in a green flame, letting the fire douse itself to reveal a dark chestnut-colored stallion with a short-cropped dark green mane. He looked himself over quickly before he started making his way out of the hive, giving a small hum of approval.

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

Phillip covered his eyes as he finally stepped out into the sun after what was very likely an entire month underground, the soothing green lights of the cave were replaced by the harsh white of the sun...

...And it felt like he was going to cook in his clothes with how damn hot it was. In moments he had taken off his robe and top layer of tunic so that he only had his light undershirt and loose pants as he traveled along the sun-baked road away from the cave. After about an hour of walking he really started regretting that he hadn't brought a drinking sac with him... or money... why the hell was he out in this sun again? Oh yeah, He came to get a bunch of candles and quite likely several pounds of ball bearings. He let his mental link to the hive stretch out to meet the infiltrators of the town, looking to get a couple of them to help him create a small story about why he's visiting.

Namiro blinked a few times as the town finally came into view, he smiled as he sensed two of the infiltrators getting closer to him before he saw the wagon and two lizard-like creatures pulling it. One of the infiltrators, disguised as a cream-white unicorn mare with a similar butter-yellow mane got off the wagon with a slight frown of disapproval before she ushered the slightly-larger stallion into the wagon. He nodded a little before getting up into the wagon and practically collapsed on one of the benches under the wagon cover.

The infiltrator simply rolled her eyes before getting in behind the Proto-King and signaling the other infiltrator, disguised as a ruby-red pegasus stallion with an orange mane, to take them back to town. He let out a sharp order and snapped the reins to get the lizard-creatures pulling the cart to head back towards town. For the most part the ride was silent, the infiltrators talked back and forth between themselves over their mental link, adopting their usual small smiles as they reached the town again.

A light-green earth pony with a dark blue mane walked up to the wagon as it pulled into town. "Hey Crimson!" She called out to the driver, who waved back.

"Hey Jade Meadow, what's up?" He asked as the mare quickly swung herself up onto the cart.

"Oh... nothing much... what brings you out with the wagon?" The green earth pony asked.

"My sister and I had to go pick up one of our cousins from the train station, fool tried to walk the whole way and nearly collapsed from exhaustion just because he was impatient to wait for a ride." The red pegasus chuckled.

"Ah! I see, I guess that's the reason why your sis isn't up here with you then?"

"Yep, she's looking over the goofball until we get to the house, then it'll be my turn." Crimson Hunter explained.

The green mare narrowed her eyes playfully as she reclined on the wagon seat, being sure to show as much of her muscle that her fairly modest working clothes would let her. The tank top she was wearing stopped just a couple inches from her waist so that her stomach muscles could be seen and her shorts made sure to frame her generous curves that working as a heavy-lifter had built up.

Crimson smiled as he tasted the lust radiating from the mare, his sister began to carefully taste as well as she tended to their new King. "You know... I'm sure Cousin Aegis would be happy to join us later..." the infiltrator teased, smirking a little more as he sensed the flare of lust as she tried to stutter out a counterargument.

"I-... You... You know that I'm not into threesomes..." She blustered as she tried to regain her composure, biting her lip as she looked towards the sleeping form of the brown earth pony. "Well..." She continued with another flare of lust. "...I might be willing to try it... if he wants to though... I know a lot of stallions prefer herds of mares..." She blinked a little. "Wait... Aegis?" She asked as she looked at Crimson in confusion.

"Aegis Armor... he's lived his life kinda like those Tibraytan Shaolin monks... learning the art of self defense without killing." The disguised changeling explained.

"And... you really think that he'd be into a threesome with us? Those monks take that self-purity stuff really seriously..."

"He's not... quite as dedicated as them... that's why he left, he did so on good terms, but he left their order after learning from some of the best teachers." The changeling replied with a strained smile, sweating a little under her scrutinizing gaze.

She leaned back with a slightly suspicious look before looking at the brown earth pony who was passed out on the wagon bench again. "Still... only if he doesn't mind..." She lets out a sigh as they pass a carpentry shop. "Well, I gotta git goin'... See you later Crimson." The light green mare quickly hopped off the front of the cart and made her way inside the shop.

The disguised changeling let out a relieved sigh. "That was a close one..." He whispered as he spurred the rouncies to move a bit faster so they could get back to their cottage. He pulled into the small stable that they had and quickly unhitched the lizard quadrupeds to let them relax after the journey before making his way to the wagon again to help his sister get their 'cousin' inside.

Once inside the red changeling nodded to the cream one. "Alright Ivory... you go do... whatever it is you do during the day, I'll get Namiro ready." The cream changeling nodded and quickly left the house. Crimson turned back to their king with a small sigh. "Let's see... how much will it take for you to recover from being stupid...?" he muttered.

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

Namiro woke up to the tantalizing scent of one of the sweetest scents he had ever smelled... Strawberry Cheesecake! He slowly blinked his eyes opening, adjusting to the interior lights of a cobblestone basement, a very cool cobblestone basement. The first thing he noticed was that he was on what felt like a Futon, patting the bed gently he realized that he was in his undisguised form as the shape of the bed didn't quite feel as comfortable as the bed he was used to sharing with Patina.

The very second thing he noticed was the red stallion in work jeans and nothing else sitting nearby with a clear cup of pink liquid that his senses were... enthusiastically... telling him to take.

The stallion nodded a little before he started to speak. "As great of a pleasure as it is to meet you King Namiro... that was a very stupid thing that you did."

Phillip blinked a couple more times as he slowly sat up. "Yes... I... I would have to admit that it was pretty dumb."

"Good, that saves me the trouble of needing to explain to yet another Royal how the independence of an infiltrator is key to remaining undetected." The red pegasus sighed as he held out the cup, blinking a little in surprise as the cup floated slowly out of his hand over to the Proto-Royal.

"Thank you..." Phillip said quietly before taking a small sip of the pink liquid. It tasted just as good as it smelled and had about the same consistency as a sports drink. He hesitated only a few seconds before drinking the rest of the glass down.

"Honestly... that's the first time I've ever seen a changeling wake up from exhaustion like that without at least half a jar of love." Crimson said as he got up, putting a lid on a nearby jar of similar pink liquid. "I take it you liked the taste though, it's the best emotion of them all..." He smiled as he fondly looked at the jar before placing it on a nearby shelf that had three other jars of liquid love placed above the shelves of other emotions in a rainbow-esque gradient.

Namiro narrowed his eyes curiously as he saw the arranged shelves. "Why collect more than just love?"

Crimson chuckled. "Because not all changelings prefer the sweet-tasting emotions..." He explained as he pulled a red jar off the shelf, the only filled red jar. "Ivory prefers spicy emotions like anger, that's why she goes out of her way to make sure her coltfriend and her argue over little things and have 'angry sex' as she likes to call it. I don't personally get why she likes the taste, but she's always smiling and bubbly the next morning after so I keep an extra stash of it in case Jade, my marefriend, has a stressful day I can harvest from."

The changeling king scrunched his nose as the infiltrator opened up the red jar, his eyes watered even as he quickly covered his nose, feeling assaulted by a mixture of ghost peppers and five alarm hot sauce. "Okay!" He choked. "You can cover the jar now..."

Crimson was all too happy to put the jar away and safely surrounded by the much-better tastes, even the bitter emotions seemed like a better option than spicy ones like that. "Anyway... it's better to have a wide variety stashed away..."

"So... Which emotions produce which colors?" Namiro asked, gaining a look from the infiltrator that made it seem like the King had grown a second head.

"Y-... you're serious?"

"I've only been a changeling for about a month... after being transported here from a different world, I'm still learning." Phillip grumbled.

Crimson sighed. "Fine... I'll give you a rundown..." He said as he picked up several of the jars, each one a solid color. He sets the red one down on a nearby table first. "First and foremost is anger... it's spicy and very few changelings enjoy the taste." He puts a green jar next to it. "Grief... very bitter, but if added to another emotion it can enhance the taste if you don't use too much." Next up was a jar of yellow liquid that made Namiro's jaw ache in anticipation. "Envy, sour, quite a few changelings find themselves attracted to the taste... but it certainly is an acquired taste."

He puts a jar of near-black liquid down. "This very dark brown one I, and many other changelings, hate the most... Fear... It's an astringent, or dry, taste and never seems to taste good with any other emotion... it has become the most plentiful after what our previous queen tried to do..." He lets out a sigh before turning his attention back to the shelves, letting the King notice at least three shelves holding five jars, sans the one on the table, each of the blackish liquid. "Ivory and I made sure to harvest that one completely out of the townsfolk though so they would be able to get along a lot better as well as accept new arrivals without panicking... That griffon they nearly chased off was a real sweetheart once you got to know her. If it weren't for Ivory and I, Gilda might not have been able to take her job at the inn."

"Yeah..." Namiro replied as he placed a hand on the infiltrator's shoulder. "...I understand, I've made it my personal quest to find a way to live peacefully among the races of this planet... there's so much we could learn from each other..."

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

Jade Meadow had a playful smirk as she eased open the door to Crimson's house, she had seen Ivory out earlier already arguing with her coltfriend so the green mare knew that Crimson and Aegis would be home, alone... at least until tomorrow, since everyone who knew Ivory and Ebony understood that she only picked a fight when the two of them were going to be intimate. She eased her way across the fuzzy carpet, looking around to see if she could surprise her coltfriend so the two of them could at least get a nice moment alone before asking Aegis if he wanted to join in.

Not seeing the red pegasus she decided to sneak her way deeper in the house, noticing that the door to the basement was open. She smiled a little bit to herself as she carefully placed a hoof on the stone steps, happy that she didn't have to worry about any creaking floorboards. Her breath caught in her throat and she made herself as quiet as she could when she heard Crimson talking to who she assumed to be Aegis Armor.

"This very dark brown one I, and many other changelings, hate the most... Fear... It's an astringent, or dry, taste and never seems to taste good with any other emotion... it has become the most plentiful after what our previous queen tried to do..." She heard him explain before sighing. "Ivory and I made sure to harvest that one completely out of the townsfolk though so they would be able to get along a lot better as well as accept new arrivals without panicking... That griffon they nearly chased off was a real sweetheart once you got to know her. If it weren't for Ivory and I, Gilda might not have been able to take her job at the inn." She put her hand to her mouth as her eyes shrunk a little, she leaned around the corner just a little and nearly gasped at the sight of the pegasus she had been dating for the past month sitting next to a changeling that nearly towered over the red stallion even while sitting, between them were several jars filled with colored water. The one fact that kept her from running away screaming though... was that she wasn't afraid... she was shocked for absolute sure... but she wasn't scared.

"Do you love her...?" The larger changeling asked her coltfriend, earning a slightly confused look from her.

"I... I don't know what you mean..." He stutters hesitantly, getting the larger changeling to pull him in for a hug.

"Love... Crimson... Do you love her?" He asked again, taking a small breath before continuing his explanation. "If you were given the chance to tell her what you really are... would you take it? Would you rather be rid of the disguise and have her accept you for who you are? Not how you look?"

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

Namiro purposely turned the infiltrator away from the door as soon as he saw the jade-colored mare peek around it, immediately he began to direct the shock towards himself so that Crimson wouldn't notice that she saw them. The red stallion was leaning against his chest as he let out a sad sigh.

"I... I've had several opportunities too... every time she gave herself to me I could have told her... I wanted to tell her... but... I... I was afraid to... Ivory and I heard rumors about what the Equestrians were doing to changelings in Canterlot..."

"How much did you lie to her about...?" Phillip asked gently, making sure the mare in the doorway heard the question as he noticed her take a small step into the room, her shock being replaced by curiosity.

Crimson straightened himself a bit more, looking at the floor with a slight frown. "aside from not telling her I'm a changeling? Nothing... I... I don't know how I know... but every word that I told her... every compliment..." He hesitated a little as a blush crossed his face. "Every time I let her try a new one of her kinks out on me... I... I loved it..." He took a small breath as he seemed to find a bit of confidence. "If I had the opportunity I'd happily spend all day just laying in bed with her and watching her smile as she cuddled against my chest... making me feel so warm and full... and..." He slumped a little as he brought a hand to his face and scowled a little. "...I felt so guilty about my own selfishness... being so full while the rest of our family was practically starving... after the first time we had been together I... I made sure to only feed on what I needed to get through the day and send every ounce of extra that I had to the hive... The fact that I have three jars now is only because the rest of the hive has stopped needing... so... much...?" He paused as he looked to Namiro again. "Wait... I've been getting messages about... you've been feeding them?"

Phillip smiled as he ruffled the pegasus' mane. "As I said when the Queen asked me... I will say again... I'm here to help, just as much as you and your sister have helped this community." He let out a small smirk as he stopped. "And I think someone else has something to say..."

They both turned to see the green mare in the doorway, she squeaked a little when she realized she had been spotted and started to fidget under the larger changeling's smile and her coltfriend's utterly shocked look. It was quiet for several minutes before Namiro started speaking. "Come on over, don't be a stranger, I'm sure you have plenty of questions..." The Changeling King got up from his chair and stretched before offering the seat to her. With very timid steps she slowly closed the gap between them before cautiously taking the offered seat.

"T-thank you..." She said quietly, nodding a little to the larger changeling. Jade looked at Crimson with a curious look. "...So changelings... don't... uh..." She hesitated, trying to not sound insulting. At both of their inquisitive looks she continued, swallowing the lump in her throat. "... don't drain you of your emotion until you have no will to live?"

She was surprised as the larger changeling started to chuckle, which slowly grew into all out laughter. Crimson and Jade both shot him glares before they noticed what they had both done in sync and blushed. Once Namiro had begun to calm down he took a few small gasping laughs. "Oh... Oh I'm sorry... I... I don't know why I started laughing... hehe... but... that was just really funny..." He took a moment to compose himself with another breath. "To answer your question though... The worst we could do to your race is make it so you simply didn't give a damn about what was going on, even then it would only be temporary until your emotions built back up."

Jade made an 'oh' expression as the realization dawned on her about why there had been a few days where she just could have watched the world pass her by and not cared. "So... when I came to you on a stressing day..." She started as she looked at Crimson.

The red pegasus nodded and continued her thought. "I wanted to make you feel better so I drained the emotion that was stressing you out away..."

Jade leaned back in her seat with a stunned look. "I... Wow... I never could've thought..."

"It's because people stop asking questions... people find reasons to hate, so they stop understanding..." Phillip said as he knelt down in front of the mare, picking up her hand gently. "I was brought to this world to help make bonds that could last throughout the ages... Would you like to be our first success?" He asked quietly.

The green mare was quiet for several moments, her eyes switching back and forth between the changeling in front of her and her coltfriend before her gaze finally stayed on Crimson. "C-can... can I see... your real form?"

Namiro let go of the mare's hand as the infiltrator nodded, slowly standing before letting his entire body get engulfed in green flames that quickly faded to reveal a changeling with emerald eyes that matched its pony form as well as a physique that also quite closely matched. Jade slowly got up and took a slow step towards the infiltrator, Crimson's entire body tensed as he waited for her to scream and run.

As the Changeling King had expected, the mare brought her arms up around Crimson's neck and pulled him into a kiss that made the changeling's eyes widen in surprise before he started to relax and his wings began buzzing excitedly. When they parted the kiss Crimson had a slight pink tinge to the edge of his eyes that Jade took notice of. "Huh... no wonder I couldn't smell the cannabis when I entered your house..."

Phillip blinked. "Wait... Cannabis? You mean...?"

"Yes, I do... It's only illegal in Manehattan, but the police don't go out to bust stoners unless there's another reason they've been called to the scene." Jade replied with an amused roll of her eyes. "They've got better things to crack down on there." She looked between Crimson and the larger changeling a couple times. "Any problems with giving us a few minutes alone? Or would you rather get to the threesome now?"

Namiro held up both of his hands defensively. "No problems here, I'll be upstairs." He quickly changed into his earth pony disguise and went upstairs, chuckling to himself as he made sure to close the door and muffle the moans he heard coming from the basement.