Glorious Exposition
Warden sat down heavily on the bed, having to squeeze slightly to fit in underneath the upper bunk, staring across at the opposite wall where a large poster of Spitfire in her Wonderbolt suit hung, with the words ‘TRY OUT FOR THE WONDERBOLTS TODAY!’ stencilled along the bottom in glaring yellow.
“This was my room,” Warden said with a faint smile, looking up to where Kuno was standing in the doorway.
“It’s very... impersonal,” Kuno said simply, still in her pegasus form, peering back and forth between the poster and the beds, literally the only things in the room.
“I wasn’t allowed to drag much stuff back and forth, really,” Warden admitted with a faint sigh. “Not much has changed, really. Cept that wasn’t always Spitfire in the posts,” he said, idly pointing a hoof at the poster. “Used to be Velocity.”
Kuno nodded at that, sliding over to the bed and then pulling herself up onto it with him, stretching out lazily. “Swarm will be fine with your parents, right?”
Warden shrugged. “She should be. Unless Gale decides to eat her.”
“You know I blackmailed you here so that you could reconcile with your family, right?” Kuno asked, pursing her lips.
“It’s not that easy,” Warden stated flatly, shaking his head. “Gale did some pretty horrendous shit.”
“I understand that, Warden,” Kuno said gently, shaking her head softly. “But he’s your father, don’t you at least owe him a chance?”
Warden frowned at that, looking thoughtful, before shrugging. “Maybe? Maybe not, though. It’s not like he ever did anything for me.”
“But he’s your father,” Kuno insisted, frowning deeply. “...I wish I had parents. In the pony sense, at least.”
Warden frowned at that, peering at his wife for a long moment. “Changelings don’t have parents?”
“Not in the classical sense,” Kuno admitted, rubbing a hoof through her mane self-consciously. “We’re birthed and then raised communally. At least.. that’s how it happens in the hive. We don’t have a designated ‘parent’ of any kind.”
“That’s... depressing,” Warden admitted.
“It keeps us from stealing love from each other constantly,” Kuno admitted with a soft sigh.
“Well that sucks. But... just because he’s my father... I don’t owe him anything. He was an unsupportive bastard my entire life and now that I’m old enough to not need him, I can tell him to go screw himself without any problems of moral,” Warden stated bluntly. “He even gave me a guard’s name,” Warden added with a slow shake of his head. “Do you know how out of touch you have to be with the world to give your child the wrong name?”
“That statement could come back to bite you on the ass,” Kuno replied with a faint grin.
Warden nodded and then gave a shrug. “I don’t even know what Swarm will want to do in life. But it’s the only name that fits.”
Kuno nodded, leaning against his side gently. “Can you at least try? For me?”
Warden bit his bottom lip, chewing roughly for a moment. “Well... For you... I guess I could try.”
“I know he’s... well, an asshole. But family is important,” Kuno urged, rubbing her nose against his neck lovingly. “And I’d really like for Swarm to have the closest to a ‘normal’ family as possible.”
“Well there goes that dream, too,” Warden said with a wave of a hoof. “She has you for a mother.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing!” Kuno protested, thumping his shoulder with a hoof.
“Not bad, per se,” Warden soothed. “Just... she won’t grow up normal. Not a chance. Not to mention she’s a miniature alicorn.”
“She’s a pegacorn,” Kuno corrected, frowning. “An alicorn is royalty. She’s just... different.”
“And not normal,” Warden said with a smile, kissing her cheek. “Just like the rest of her family.”
“So... why are we here?” Kuno asked.
“Waiting for my father to leave and go back to work,” Warden said with a long sigh.
“Sneaky,” Kuno complemented.
“I thought so too,” Warden said with a slightly strained smile. “I have a whole lot to tell my parents... but I just... I don’t feel up to talking to Gale right now.”
“But that’s kind of the entire point of coming here,” Kuno protested, frowning.
Warden gave a long-suffering sigh. “I know. But... I just don’t want to interact with him at all.”
Kuno scowled, pushing his shoulder with a hoof. “C’mon, quit stalling, let’s go.”
Warden sighed faintly, rising to his hooves. “Fine, fine.”
Warden pushed open the door to the dimly-lit sewing room, peeking around the corner.
“Where’s Swarm?” Warden asked, blinking, not seeing his daughter or his father.
“I gave Gale some bits and he’s out treating his granddaughter to ice cream,” Threadbare explained, as she pulled a flight suit through the sewing machine, inspecting the seam closely as she did so.
“Ahhh, that explains it, well, I can go then,” Warden said, waving a hoof airily and turning around.
He was met by Kuno’s smiling face, though the smile didn’t reach her eyes. She slowly shook her head.
Warden gave a long sigh, lowering his head and turning back around, slinking into the room and sitting down at one of the counters.
“Avoiding your father?” Threadbare asked curiously.
Warden harrumped as Kuno sat next to him, and then shook his head. “Trying to.”
Kuno soothingly stroked a hoof up and down his good. “He needs a strong hoof to lead him.”
Threadbare paused in her work, looking up over the sewing machine. “You know your father loves you, right?”
Warden stared into his mother’s eyes for several long moment before bursting out laughing.
Threadbare frowned deeply.
“C’mon mom,” Warden said, shaking his head slowly. “He hates me.”
“Your father... he grew up in a different time. He had a pretty rough-and-tumble life. By your age, he was already moving up the ranks of the Wonderbolt’s ladder.”
“And now look at him, stuck teaching the new guys like some second-rate cripple,” Warden said with an airy wave of a hoof. “Methinks he’s not as tough as he makes out to be.”
Threadbare pursed her lips, sitting down behind the counter and then flicking the sewing machine off, plunging the room into silence. “You... don’t know why your father teaches now, do you?”
“Can’t say I ever bothered to find out,” Warden said with a carefree shrug.
“Did you know that he stopped flying professionally around about the same time as Swarm passed away?” Threadbare asked cautiously.
Warden shrugged again. “Something to do with a training accident. I forget. Most of my memories from that time are consumed with wanting to stab him in the face for what he said.”
Threadbare gave a long sigh at that, rubbing a hoof through her mane. “Your father is a very proud stallion.”
“This conversation is going in circles,” Warden said bluntly.
“Be patient,” Kuno hissed, jabbing his ribs with her elbow.
Warden winced and then pursed his lips. “Fine, fine. Do tell me why the old bastard doesn’t fly any more.”
“Well, you know that he injured himself. He turned up at the funeral with the wing-brace on, yes?” Threadbare asked, walking her son through the events.
Warden nodded once. “I asked him about it. He told me that there’d been an accident at work and he probably would never fly for the Wonderbolts again.”
“You still haven’t put two and two together?” Threadbare asked, exasperated.
“It’s four,” Warden said confidently.
Threadbare shook her head slowly, heaving a long sigh. “Gale was with you, you know.”
“With me? Like what? In spirit?” Warden asked blankly, blinking once.
“No, with you,” Threadbare explained. “He was following you the entire way. In case you needed help.”
“Well I needed help and he wasn’t there to provide it!” Warden protested, his expression darkening. “A fat lot of help he was when I couldn’t get the medicine!”
Threadbare shook her head. “He watched you try to retrieve it, and then... he went after it himself.”
Warden frowned deeply at that, his ears splaying back. “He... did?”
Threadbare nodded gently. “He did. But he got injured in the scuffle and had to retreat, just as you did.”
“I didn’t get injured,” Warden admitted, looking down at his hooves. “I... couldn’t get that close.”
“Your father is a member of the Wonderbolt’s, Warden. They don’t like to fail any challenge. He was very fast with his wings, too. But one of the manticore was faster,” Threadbare explained delicately. “He lost his career for you, Warden. And yes, he did blame you afterwards, especially as he’d only just gotten back the diagnosis that he was never going to be able to fly professionally again.”
Warden frowned deeply at that, one of his hooves lifting to idly toy with the leading edge of his bad wing, his ears splaying. “I... never knew.”
“Well Gale would never tell you himself,” Threadbare admitted with a slow shake of her head. “He’s not... perfect. Yes he’s made some mistakes, but... you never gave him a second chance, did you?”
Warden pursed his lips, scratching idly at the floor with a hoof. “Not everypony deserves a second chance...”
Kuno snorted at that, nudging him lightly with her nose. “How many second chances have you given me?”
“Well, you didn’t do anything as...” Warden trailed off, trying to argue that Kuno hadn’t done anything as bad as his father had.
Kuno just shook her head, staring at him. “Be the bigger stallion. Quit being a petty little child.”
“You, calling me a child?” Warden accused, poking her chest with a hoof.
Kuno nodded mutely. “That should probably impress upon you the depths of your childishness.”
Warden winced slightly and nodded. “Yeah, you’re probably right there.”
Threadbare raised an eyebrow. “So... are you going to give him a chance?”
Warden rubbed a hoof through his mane self-consciously. “I... I suppose I could cut him some slack...”
“Good,” Kuno crooned, draping a hoof over his shoulders, “Now, we just to tell them all about us,” she said with an eerily happy grin.
Warden wrinkled his nose at that, giving an awkward, self-conscious laugh. “I ahh.. think that might be a bit much right now.”
“Oh, but it’s going to be so fun to tell them every little det-” Kuno trailed off, peering back over her shoulder at the door as Gale Force entered.
Swarm was perched between the larger pegasus’ wings, holding onto the leading edge of one with a hoof and stuffing her face with an ice cream cone with the other, pushing her nose into the cone itself to try and lick more ice cream from inside.
Gale Force paused in the doorway, looking back and forth between the three ponies already in the room. “Do I need to leave?”
“No, stay,” Threadbare said, patting the space beside her.
“Yes, stay,” Warden said shortly.
“The ice cream is stuck at the bottom!” Swarm protested, peering into the ice cream cone.
“Eat it,” Warden suggested.
“It’s at the bottom,” Swarm said, with the air of a teacher correcting a very dim student.
“Eat the cone,” Warden said, rolling his eyes.
“You can eat the cone? It’s cardboard,” Swarm protested, wrinkling her nose at it. “Soggy cardboard!”
“We’ve never given her cones before?” Warden asked, peering at Kuno.
“We just give it to her in bowls and tubs,” Kuno said with a shrug.
Warden sighed, turning back to face his daughter. “Yes, you can eat the cone. It even tastes nice... where it’s all crunchy and not soggy.”
Swarm pondered on this for several long seconds, before beginning to nibble around the edge of the cone, steadily eating her way towards the bottom.
Gale Force calmly made his way over to his wife, sitting down beside her. Swarm hung onto his back with a hoof hooked around one of his wings, before she slowly slid down his back and landed on her rump, happily eating the ice cream cone the entire time.
“So...” Warden said after a long moment.
“So,” Gale Force responded.
“How’s the uh... career?” Warden asked awkwardly.
“It’s good. The new batch of recruits look like they’ll shape up well.”
“That’s ah... good,” Warden responded, scratching at his neck with a hoof. “Do you erm... miss doing the shows?”
Gale Force turned to stare at Threadbare for a long moment, his eyes narrowed. Threadbare just gave a shrug, turning to pick up torn flight suit and inspecting it closely.
“More than anything,” Gale Force admitted, frowning and rubbing his chin with a hoof.
“I’m sorry that you can’t fly with them any more,” Warden said awkwardly.
“S’not your fault, but thanks for the thought,” Gale Force responded with a flippant wave of a hoof. He turned his gaze to Kuno. “So... tell me about yourself, Kuno? Who are you? Why are you wearing a collar? And why are you so... intimidating, especially given that you weigh about as much as a feather soaking wet in a flight suit.”
“Wellll, the collar, this thing?” Kuno asked, idly lifting a hoof to touch at the bell. “It’s...” she trailed off, clasping a hoof over Warden’s muzzle. “It’s from when I first met Warden. He locked me in a room with a one-way mirror, bars over the window, and a bed. Oh, and the collar was to keep me from escaping during meal times.”
Warden’s parents were aghast.
Warden struggled away from Kuno’s hoof, giving a nervous laugh. “A-all lies. Kuno is quite the jokester,” he said with a strained smile, nudging her with his elbow. “Ix-nay on the... on the... just stop!”
“Why do... why do I believe you?” Gale Force asked cautiously.
“Because it’s the truth,” Kuno said simply. “Though, he was perfectly warranted in his safety measures. ‘Course, I broke his alarm clock, and used a spring from it to pick the lock on my collar.”
“Resourceful,” Gale Force said with an appraising nod, even though his wings had flared just slightly, ready to move should he need to.
Warden moved to clasp his hoof over her mouth, but Kuno dodges backwards idly, keeping him at bay with her own hoof. “Course, once I got free, I needed somewhere to stay... so I stayed with him. I fell in love with him. And then Daggertail’s thugs came around and broke his wing and hoof since he wasn’t being a good little boy like he promised.”
Warden hung his head, giving a long sigh.
“They broke your wing and hoof?” Gale Force asked, staring. “But... Daggertail was murdered...” he frowned deeply, staring at Kuno for several long moments. “You mean...”
Kuno nodded slowly. “I murdered him. It was actually pretty easy. Not nearly as satisfying as I had hoped, though. Shine was much more fun. I got to... toy with him before the end.”
All the blood had drained from Gale Force’s and Threadbare’s faces, and they seemed painfully aware that Kuno was between them and the exit.
“But that was while Warden was in the hospital. He ended up there because just a few hours after Shine brutalised him, he drugged himself up and managed to drag his sorry ass all the way to Canterlot to rescue me from the royal guard,” Kuno said with a short nod.
“But that was...” Threadbare trailed off, her eyes widening. “T-that was you and Warden?”
“Your wife keeps up with the news,” Kuno said with a slow smile, staring at Gale Force. “Of course, after that, he was in an induced coma for a few weeks. I left before he woke up, because I’m selfish and heartless like that.”
Kuno trailed off, humming faintly and ordering her thoughts, scratching at her chin with a hoof. “I came back, because I decided I wanted him all to myself. By this point, he was already at the farm in the far north, near the old Crystal Empire. I paid for the farm with money I ‘appropriated’ over the years in my err... ‘line of work’. It’s amazing how many bits you save by not needing to eat regular food.”
Warden shook his head, holding his face in a hoof.
“So, then we went to see the queen, to see if it was possible for us to have a child together,” Kuno continued.
“Don’t you mean Princess?” Gale Force queried.
“Queen,” Kuno corrected with an eerie smile. “Warden got into a spot of bother and was saved by none other than yours truly. We got married. On a cloud. There were fireworks and everything. It was quite nice.”
Gale Force cocked his head to the left. “None of this is making any sense.”
“The truth rarely does,” Kuno said dryly. “Either way, we broke up the day after the wedding... Or was it the same day?” Kuno turned to peer at Warden, raising an eyebrow. “When was it?”
“I don’t remember...” Warden said with a faint whine, covering his face with his hooves. “Kuno... please stop.”
Kuno continued doggedly. “Well, whenever it was, we broke up because my queen came back, blurted all my secrets, and Warden demanded that I remove the love spell I had on him for the previous two years or so. He didn’t take that so well.” Kuno hummed faintly, rubbing her face curiously. “I swear, he almost broke bones when he hit me. He was mad.”
Warden gave a long sigh, shaking his head back and forth in disbelief, face entirely covered by his hooves.
“But then he fell back in love with me and we had Swarm,” Kuno finished brightly, waving a hoof at filly who was now attempting to see if the cone would fit over her horn.
Gale Force slowly shook his head. “How much of that was true?”
“Everything,” Kuno said evenly, meeting his gaze unwaveringly. “Also,” she waved a hoof, and there was a flash of green. When it faded, Kuno in her natural form was standing there, staring at them challengingly, though she lost several inches of height in the change.
“I’m a changeling, Warden has an illegitimate foal with an earth pony named Green Hoof, so you’re grandparents twice over, Swarm is part changeling, hence the wings and horn, your son is totally turned on when I chirp at him, and I can and have turned into a dragon before. Oh, and I am now legally related to you. Hi mom, hi dad.”
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Glorious! Loved it. More!!
Oh god Kuno, you're going to break them.
Who ever said Changelings were subtle?
Here's where Warden's parents go berserk.
Omg yes.
Ah Kuno, you've stoped being EVIL, but you'll never stop being evil.
That is one brutal cliffhanger
Kuno, you coldblooded!
yeah... thats Kuno
Damn you, now write fast next chapter!
3021547 its going to happen, the facial expressions says it all and your comment as well
Another chapter so soon?! You are my hero!
....YES...that is all that can be said...
Well, look at the bright side... at least your son isen't gay (the joke you just read does not reprisent my view on sexuality in any shape or form)
His parent's initial reaction....
cdn.derpiboo.ru/media/BAhbBlsHOgZmSSIsMjAxMi8xMS8xOC8wM18xNl8yMl8xNjRfMTU1NzczX19VTk9QVF9fBjoGRVQ/155773__safe_twilight-sparkle_pinkie-pie_animated_scootaloo_image-macro_vulgar_reaction-face_ax-brutaloo.gif
Kuno everytime Warden tried to stop her...
denver.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw4541-fluttersigh.gif
And the final line...
dashie.mylittlefacewhen.com/media/f/img/mlfw607_130331842872.gif
... and I don't want to kick the shit out of him any more. Well... not as much anyway.
I wonder if the cloud floor was strong enough to stop their jaws from dropping right through it.
But it was ruled a suicide. Did everyone know anyway that something was fishy or is the schoolteacher really fast at spreading rumors?
So she gave up on the project of protecting Swarm from traumatic knowledge? Well, it was hopeless anyway.
... I need a drink.
3021636 It was ruled 'the most severe suicide ever seen'.
cool
This story is so good, I honestly do not see how it can end. No story ever truly ends anyway. Even if you end this story in the far future with the deaths of Kuno and Warden, everyone will ask what the future holds for Swarm. Unless you put in some kind of gruesome accident which kills the whole family at once, I don't see this legacy ever ending.
Oh wait... DAMN YOU FOR ENDING WITH A FUNNY LINE!
Oh that Kuno!
The tourter begin
Who else but Kuno to go and say everything about the past stories all in a matter of minutes. I'm face palming by the way.
~ Techsol
Kuno.... is tact a foreign concept to you?
what... just...
wHAAAATTTT????
Also
YAY A THIRD PART!
Yeas only now I found out that you actually made a third part for the story
It's awesome to see that you are keep the perfect chapters going on!
I SOOO want to read more
That ending was a gooooooood one xD
Holyyyy! That was the best freaking expo i've ever seen. Now let us see how they recover for THAT bombshell.
Also with her the term "house dragon" gets a new way to look at.
Excuse me for a moment... *facepalms*
Partially I think her backstory was because she likes to spite Warden for fun; I also think some of it though is her not understanding what ponies will divulge to their parents/in-laws.
Wow, I was near spot on with my take on Gale being a overzealous father who feared for his son's ability to defend himself and others and trying to force his style of being a stallion on his son. Furthermore I knew he wouldn't of just played with Swarm's life when he thought he could save her if Warden failed.
Dear Celestia, could you be any less tactless!?
3021812 Very foreign, I 'spect. ... Like... other side of the world foreign. XD
Next chapter-
And I thought the last chapter was awesome?! Kuno sure loves making people uncomfortable.
ROFL
that ending :P
That was a blast. My favorite moments were of course Swarm with the ice cream cone – cute! – and Kuno's exposition and definitely her last line. Freaking hilarious! Excellent chapter.
The last few paragraphs of parts one and two in a nutshell
...subtle.
“It’s from when I first met Warden. He locked me in a room with a one-way mirror, bars over the window, and a bed. Oh, and the collar was to keep me from escaping during meal times.”
Commence laughing sequence.....
"Oh, and I am now legally related to you. Hi mom, hi dad.”
End of laughing sequence.
Cant wait to see how they will recover from that.
My reaction to Kuno telling Wardens parents generally everything,
i474.photobucket.com/albums/rr102/Mendicant_Bias/476b4907a422f16b702ec9be83be11d4122.jpg
So are we getting a new chapter every day now, or is this just a one time thing?
3022152 It depends!
I have an AWKWARD as hell idea for the next chapter. And reconciliations are always fun... depends on how I feel tomorrow!
3022149 same here
3022149
that.....pretty much sums it up.
3021927
Yes, she could be less tactless.
Though, I don't think it means quite what you think it means.
3022264 If you mean the definition of having a lack of sensitivity or aversion to treating a topic delicately then I mean exactly what I say.
Oh my god... This is going to be funny as hell.
EDIT: That was perfect.