Illuminating Aegis: Tales of the Changeling King

The room was dark, lit only by a single candle on a small table in the center of the room. Just outside of the illumination was a robed figure, his black robe matching his equally-ebony wings. "So we have a deal then?" The robed figure asked just barely above a whisper, with the silence in the room though, he seemed to be at least several meters taller than he actually was.

Across from him a wide-eyed griffon sat with his beak bound, his wings were tied to his side and he was shivering in his chair. The brown-coated griffon nodded quickly and winced as he saw the hooded griffon smile.

"Good..." He began with a silky venom. "...Then your daughter and I shall be wed at once, do not worry, I will produce an heir to your throne. Your nation will rise once again as a World Power." The figure slowly walked around the table to use his sharp claws on the griffon's bindings. "Remember... if you double-cross me... I don't even have to see you to kill you." He chuckled darkly.

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

A violet unicorn shifted in her seat with either unease or excitement, considering the fact that she was on her way to a wedding it was very likely to be the latter, she threw a glance to the rest of the occupants of the train as the experimental Grav-Train sped along the tracks straight to the Griffon capital of Ebonspire.

The most noticeable occupant was an earth pony mare that seemed like bubblegum hopped up on energy drinks. She bounced all over the car, talking at a mile a second about the party she was going to be throwing for the wedding. It was only a few seconds before she did mention something that made the rest of the train car uneasy. "I hope that there aren't any mean changelings at the wedding though, we wouldn't want to go through a repeat of Shining Armor and Princess Cadence's wedding... you know... now that they're married, wouldn't they be known as King and Queen?" The mare started to continue on her seemingly-random train of thought as the violet mare looked at her remaining friends.

A very posh and well-dressed marshmallow-white unicorn with a deep violet mane sat off on one of the nearby booths enjoying a cup of tea on the surprisingly smooth ride. Her eyes cast a very lost-in-thought look on the liquid that she was drinking.

An orange earth pony mare and her cyan pegasus friend had stopped their arm-wrestle as they thought more on what the pink mare had said, it didn't take words for them to all know that aside from the pink mare they all had an uneasy pit in their stomach at the idea that yet another wedding may be ruined by changelings. Fortunately none had shown themselves over the past few months so it put most ponies' minds at... a little bit of ease.

The violet unicorn's gaze finally fell on her last friend, a butter-yellow pegasus with a soft pastel-pink mane was shivering in her seat at the thought of changelings possibly attacking again.

The mare sighed as she went over the scroll that had come in the middle of day court for her mentor's perusal.

Dear Rulers of Equestria,

You are invited to a wedding for the esteemed Griffon Princess, Lorna McCabe, and her esteemed husband to be, Nikolaus McNett. We also extend this invitation to the heroes of your country known as 'The Elements Of Harmony' and would be quite honored to have them attend the festivities. A mixture of dishes pertaining to herbivores and omnivores will be available so do not feel pressured to bring a dish, although extra cuisine from other countries will certainly be appreciated as the groom enjoys discovering delight in the chance to try a new recipe.

The Wedding will be in one week's time although we do hope that you decide to arrive early in order to partake in a bit of our culture without the rush of being in a wedding.

Twilight's eyes turned up from the letter to the small booth that Princess Luna, the midnight blue princess of the moon and stars, was sitting alone. Ever since Nightmare Night last year she seemed, quieter, much more pensive, for days at a time she had dedicated herself to study and research. The violet unicorn did notice a small stab of envy as she noticed that despite the days and nights of intensive research the lunar diarch never seemed to lose the athletic figure that Twilight could only wish she had.

Twilight knew that she considered the dark princess a friend, although no matter how hard she tried the lunar diarch never gave off any indication that she even had friends. The mare's mind drifted back to the meeting that her mentor had called after receiving the letter.

|-o-|

Twilight dashed through the halls of Canterlot Castle, many of the servants seeming to acrobatically avoid her as if expecting her to rush to meet with their princess. Panting and heaving, Twilight finally threw open the doors to Celestia's private study in concern only to have her expression switch to confusion as she was met with the sight of a sulking lunar diarch and positively ecstatic solar princess.

"Twilight! We've received wondrous news!" The larger white mare practically giggled as she got up. "The Griffon princess is about to get married and we have been invited to the wedding!"

"Yes, a wedding to our mortal enemies... what a joy..." The lunar diarch groaned before she took a chair. "I do not see why you sought peace with those carnivorous warmongers..."

Celestia shot her sister a glare that basically silenced any further argument that the darker mare would put up before she turned back to Twilight with a smile. "You and your friends are even invited! Be sure to grab Spike so that he can enjoy the wedding as well!"

|-o-|

Twilight bit her lip as she thought about the Princess' decision to bring Spike with them, since it could turn out absolutely horrible if the changelings are here as well. She shook her head and took another small breath to clear her head before looking back out the window to watch as the Griffon Empire grew in the distance. "It would be nice to have a small vacation from all this 'hero' business..." she thought idly as she placed a hoof on the windowsill.

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

Nikolaus stood in front of a full-body mirror, admiring the way his feathers and fur seemed to complement each other with his fur being a dark grey while his feathers were a silvery-white color. He let a claw rub along the length of his steel-grey beak for a few seconds before he began to chuckle. "You know... this is why I prefer being here, far less of a rainbow-friendship theme going on than with the ponies." He explained as he turned to a sulking female Griffon, her white plumage seemed puffed up a bit in irritation as she crossed her arms. "What's with the sour face, love? We're going to be married in a few days, it's a wondrous time for smiling and celebration!" The grey griffon cheered as he seemed to almost pirouette in place.

"Why do you seek my father's throne like this? Couldn't you just kill my old man and be done with it?" She snaps as her mood seems to sour even more.

Nikolaus gave a small sigh. "Because, this way your father will be able to hold his grandchildren in his arms before he dies... I may be a darksider but I'm not that cruel." He teases as he sits down next to her, prompting her to take a few irritated shuffles away. "Besides... This stops you from being hounded by suitors who would rather do the same thing while running this country into the ground. I have the technology and blueprints to bring this country into a new age of power." He coos, stroking her arm. She gives a light tug to try and remove herself from his touch, though not enough to matter as his hand travels up her arm, gently weaving through her fur as his left wing meets her right wing. Her quiet gasp was enough to get him started as he leaned forward to gently nibble at her neck, trailing tiny kisses up it until he reached where her ears would be. "I can love you... and you can love me... we will be married and your nation will rise even greater than that of Equestria. I want you to love me but you do not let me give you all of my love... It is emotion that makes the dark side stronger, make me stronger... and I will ensure that you become stronger in turn."

The white-feathered Griffon looked down at her lap as the silver-feathered male began to hug her close, her mind raced with the thought of learning to be as strong as him, remembering the day that she had first seen him.

(-oo-)

Three Months Previously

Lorna was sitting in the dining hall with her usual scowl, her favorite flight team had lost to the Equestrian Wonderbolts again this year. Her father had tried and failed several times to try and get her to talk once again especially since the dukes of his kingdom were attending dinner this evening to help discuss the country's financial situation and ways to bring them back to their former glory... as her grandfather had done... and his grandfather before him... and even his grandfather before him. Ever since Celestia and Luna had risen to power the Griffon Kingdom had done nothing but rot from the inside out as strong warriors were replaced with bureaucrats and politicians.

Lorna sank in her seat as she tuned out her latest suitor, the son of her father's most influential duke. She hadn't bothered to remember his name because she would still say no to the pompous prick in her side. All the griffons wanted nowadays was to get into her family's inner circle so that they could line their pockets while not making a single change to the country at large. If not for the weekly flights she had practically forced her father to agree to she would have gone absolutely mad from boredom and irritation... and nearly ripping the wings off of her first suitor hadn't hurt her chances of getting that flight either.

She scowled as a single thought went through her mind. "Please... PLEASE! Let something happen to make this place stop being so boring!"

Oddly enough, despite the number of times she had the same thought in the past, the universe decided to grant her request that day as a loud groan could be heard coming from the doors. Several of the guards in the room readied their shortspears as the doors seemed to groan even louder and several cracks in the walls could be seen from where they were normally bolted to their frames.

With an almighty cracking the doors were ripped from their hinges and flung down the hall, causing several of the dinner guests to back away from the heavy doors in fear.

Lorna had stood and backed away as well, but she had become more curious than anything else, normally it took two griffon soldiers to move even one of the doors, so ripping them off their hinges and ruining the door frames was quite a nearly-impossible feat without modern explosives.

As the dust settled a lone, robed figure stood in the doorway slowly lowering his hands. He was surrounded by the unconscious forms of several soldiers and simply stepped over the soldier that was on the ground in front of him.

"Who in the bloody hell are you?" One of the dukes screeched as his personal guards began to draw their swords.

The temperature of the room seemed to drop noticeably as the robed Griffon chuckled. "I am a wanderer, an adventurer... One could even say, an Overlord..." The mysterious Griffon began to take a few steps closer. "And I have come... To bring power back to a floundering nation on the edge of disaster."

"So... you wish to serve me?" Lorna's father asked with a slightly hopeful tone once the knowledge on how powerful this warrior could be began to sank into their heads.

"No..." The Griffon growled as he held his right claw out a little, letting a cross-shaped piece of metal quickly float to his hand. "I came to take over. We have two ways to do this though..." He began as the guards began to circle him. "I could kill every one of your guards as well as every griffon in this room... OR! ...I could take your daughter's claw in marriage, take your country as your heir and bring this nation back to an era of strength instead of bureaucracy."

Lorna's father scowled and narrowed his eyes in anger. "Those kinds of threats are not tolerated here, Guards! Seize him!" The moment he had given the order Lorna could just sense that her father had made a grave mistake, within the next few moments her sense would be proven right.

As several of the guards lunged forward, the robed Griffon moved as fluidly as water down a stream; The metal cross he had in his hand hissed as three crimson beams sprouted from the three ends he wasn't holding on to. The side blades only went out about the size of a dagger but the center blade stopped once it got to a meter length. Lorna gasped as it seemed that only a few seconds had passed, several loud static-like hisses were heard as the blade cleaved through spears, armor and flesh as easily as a hot knife through butter.

The decapitated corpses of half a dozen guards hit the ground with deep thumps while the robed griffon didn't even sport a scar. "One last chance..." He said with a smirk to the dead-quiet room. "...I kill everyone here... or I marry your daughter."

(-oo-)

Lorna let out a breathy moan as his beak kissed against a sensitive spot on her neck. So much was confusing about this Griffon who had barged into her father's dining hall and demanded her claw in marriage. When he was angry at an 'incompetent fool' he disciplined them with pain, infuriated about the number of idiots that had been raised above their station simply because they wanted more money. The only members of staff that he didn't harm were the servants, even if they messed up their jobs in fear the worst they got were stern 'stop cowering'-s before he sent them to continue on with their business.

She had been hesitant when he requested to share a room with his new bride, he had explained it as wanting to get her to be more comfortable around him... and surprisingly... with each passing day she had begun to admire him. He didn't suffer the idiocy of bureaucrats and was more than willing to whip their military into shape. Already he had put several designs from his 'datapad' in the claws of local smiths so that they could work on the Grav-Train that Canterlot had requested as well as advanced metallurgy that gave their soldiers better armor and weapons.

Not once had he been forceful with her, he never tried to take her body without permission... and each day her resistance to him began to wane as he tempted her with learning as his apprentice, to become his equal, to become the dark queen he needed to bring this nation to greatness once again. His arm between her wings braced her as he began to give her a passionate kiss, with surprising ease she leaned back to give him the dominant position as the two began to retire for the night. While he respected that she did not want an egg yet, he was more than determined to give her one before the year was out...

...And the more she thought about it... the more she started wanting to have one as well.