Kuno was sitting in the bath again, humming happily and scrubbing herself off, a toothbrush stuffed in her muzzle and a full fake mane of bubbles cascading down her back. It was night, and she was getting ready for bed.
She had already delivered the news that Daggertail would most likely be leaving him alone, and now all they had to do was wait. Warden was still awake, pacing back and forth. One of Daggertail’s cronies was due for a check up that very next morning. If he didn’t arrive, then Warden would know that he was free.
Daggertail, however, had other plans.
“Oi, you pair, go around the back and make sure they don’t try to escape out the back window or something,” Sunshine said, waving a hoof to two of the big earth ponies accompanying him. The two ponies nodded, immediately splitting off the main group and heading for the rear of the house.
Sunshine gave a malicious grin, turning to the remaining four earth ponies. “You remember the orders, right?”
The four ponies nodded.
The unicorn gave a grin at that, waving a hoof for them to proceed. The four ponies fanned out, heading for the windows and doors of the building. Sunshine watched them go, rubbing a hoof against his temple where Kuno had knocked him down the dark alley. It would be time for revenge so very soon.
Kuno hummed to herself happily, rubbing a sponge around her neck where her collar usually sat, brushing the chitin there where it was starting to get scuffed. She considered finding a way to put an extra-soft padded part on the inside of the collar, so it wouldn’t ruin her chin: she would have to ask Warden about it.
That was the last thought Kuno had before the window beside her exploded inwards.
Glass showered the bathroom, tinkling to the tiled floor while the rock that was thrown through the window clattered across the hard surface, banging against the door.
Kuno was momentarily stunned, caught by surprise. She quickly pulled herself up out of the bath, and spun towards the window, her teeth baring in a show of aggression.
By the time the changeling realised that no one was at the window any more, the door to the bathroom was being kicked in, slamming against the wall. A pair of earth ponies stood there, grinning at her maliciously. The one that had thrown the rock through the window appeared at the broken hole, smiling evilly, blocking her escape.
Kuno spun around to face the doorway, watching as another pony headed past them down the hall, towards Warden’s room. The sound of a commotion quickly followed.
Kuno launched herself at the two ponies in the doorway, raising a hoof to bring down on their heads.
The first earth pony sidestepped, moving forwards and to the side. Before Kuno even realised what was happening, the second pony caught her with a ringing blow right on the nose. The changeling blinked listlessly, falling back onto her rump and staring with wide eyes, a peculiar ringing in her ears and blood starting to trickle from her nostrils.
A brutal sideswipe blow from the first ponies hoof caught the changeling right across the cheek, sending her keeling sideways to the tile floor, unconscious. The pure white tiles were quickly sullied by a slow dribble of blood drooling from her nostril and the corner of her mouth.
Sunshine walked through the front door of the house as if he owned it, sauntering towards the lounge room, where the unconscious Kuno, and the struggle Warden were being dragged.
“Lemme go!” Warden demanded, trying to kick his way free. A quick blow to his stomach silenced him.
Warden paled when he realised that Sunshine was in his lounge room.
“Hello, Warden,” Sunshine said warmly. “What strange company you keep these days.”
Warden blinked once, his eyes widening as Kuno was dragged in from the bathroom, dumped unceremoniously on the floor.
“Don’t you dare hurt her!” Warden snarled, struggling all the harder.
A second blow to his stomach silenced him, and he doubled up, wheezing hard, hooves holding his stomach.
“Daggertail sent us here to deliver a message,” Sunshine said with a highly malicious smile, peering down at the pegasus. “Say goodbye to your little bug friend.”
Warden gasped for air, panting and clawing with his hoof to try and get back to a standing position. One of the earth ponies picked up the changeling, hone hoof around her middle, the other gripping her horn, tilting her head back and exposing her throat. A second pony stepped forwards, drawing a dagger and giving a wicked grin.
“N-no!” Warden breathed, pushing himself to his hooves and trying to move towards the changeling. He didn’t even see the blow that caught him in the ribs, but he was sure he felt something in his rib cage break under the powerful impact. A second hit between his shoulders dropped him to the floor once more. His eyes began to water as he stared up at the unconscious changeling. “P-please, no!”
The pony with the dagger stepped closer, holding the dagger against the changelings neck, licking his lips, savouring the moment.
“N-no...” Warden breathed, hanging his head, defeated.
Sunshine held up a hoof. “Wait.”
Warden lifted his head, blinking hopefully.
“Daggertail just wants the changeling dead. Let the guard execute her, we’ll turn her in for the bounty,” Sunshine said, a thoughtful note in his voice. “Either way, she still dies.”
“B-but,” Warden whispered. “Y-you can’t.”
“Shut up, you!” Sunshine snarled, kicking the pegasus hard in the ribs. Warden felt something else crack. “Hold his hoof,” Sunshine said calmly.
The two earth ponies relinquished the changeling, dropping her to the floor unceremoniously, before moving over to the pegasus. Warden sucked in a breath, his eyes widening as his hoof was extended, held forcefully in place.
“Beg for me, Warden. Beg me not to hurt you,” Sunshine said maliciously, staring down at the pegasus.
“P-please don’t hurt me...” Warden said with wide eyes, looking up at the unicorn and then down at his hoof, struggling faintly.
Sunshine pursed his lips thoughtfully, before a slow, mirthless smile stretching his muzzle. “No.”
Crack!
Warden screamed in pain as Sunshine stomped with his full weight on the outstretched limb, right in the perfect spot. The earth ponies themselves winced at the sound of bones breaking, and Warden heaved so hard that his hoof was freed, hanging at an odd angle.
The pegasus continued to scream hoarsely, holding his broken hoof against his chest, tears streaming down his cheeks as he writhed in pain.
“The wing,” Sunshine said emotionlessly.
The earth ponies grabbed one of Warden’s wings, stretching it out fully. Warden felt the motions, and he stiffened, his eyes flicking open as he turned a tear-streaked face up towards Sunshine.
“P-please!” he pleaded, blubbering, “Please don’t! I’ll do anything! I-I’ll do anything you w-want, j-just don-”
The pegasus never even got to finish his sentence, as Sunshine just sneered and then quickly leapt up, slamming his hoof down against the pegasus’ wing as hard as he could.
A fresh scream left the pegasus as his wing broke, right on the middle joint. He screamed so hard he began to cough, and then threw up all over the floor, and then he screamed some more. Liquid agony filled him, burning fiery hot in his form.
“Pathetic,” Sunshine stated with a contemptuous snort, though he seemed pleased with the pain he had inflicted on the pegasus. “I trust you won’t be defying Daggertail again?” he asked with a mean smile, gripping Warden’s mane and tugging his head up. “Now. Thank me for not killing you, Warden, or I’m going to break your other wing.”
Warden sobbed helplessly, tears splashing onto the floor. “T-thank you f-for n-not killing me...” he managed to squeeze out in between harsh sobs of pain and shame.
“Good little boy,” Sunshine said with a malicious smile. He waved a hoof, and the earth ponies began to file out, carrying the unconscious Kuno between them.
Sunshine stood up then, turning to leave. He paused in the doorway, looking back. “We’ll be back tomorrow for a progress update on our crop.”
Warden shuddered as he tried to stand. Sunlight streamed in through the window in the lounge room, and the pegasus hadn’t been even able to stand yet. The smell of his own dried vomit churned his stomach, and he was ashamed. Ashamed and broken.
Everything had been taken from him. Again. Kuno, the one thing he had in the world that was good, was gone. She would be executed by the guard.
First Swarm. Now Kuno.
He had been so close to being happy. And now it was snatched away.
He wished that Sunshine had just killed him.
After a few minutes, Warden managed to push himself to a rough sitting position, beginning to drag himself, one-hoofed, towards the bathroom. He was going to take the entire bottle of magic suppressants. There was enough toxins in there to kill himself. There was nothing more to live for. His life was over.
It took minutes for him to get to the bathroom: Painful, tear-filled minutes. But the thought of an end to the suffering he was in fortified the pegasus, and he struggled onwards.
Dragging himself across the tiles was easier, and he brushed the broken glass out of his way, pulling himself up so he was leaning over the sink. He opened up the medicine cabinet, and pulled out the bottle of pills, shakily undoing the top of it.
But something stopped him.
The word KUNO appeared in front of him, and he blinked once, trying to focus. It took several moments for him to realise that he could see the changeling’s collar lying besides the tub, her name visible on it. And it gave him pause.
Kuno was gone. Given to the guard. Gone.
But maybe she was still alive?
Warden stared down at his hoof, at the bottle full of tablets there. It would be so easy to just end it all. So easy to take that path out. No more pain, no more suffering. But what of Kuno? Warden was her very last chance at being saved.
It almost made him laugh, to think of the changeling, so assertive and strong, relying on him of all ponies. The greatest failure ever.
Warden looked up at his own reflection, and felt his eyes misting with tears. Weak. He was weak.
His gaze hardened, and he dropped the pill bottle. Pills spilled down the drain in a torrent of blue, lost to him.
Warden stared at his reflection, biting his tongue until he tasted blood, his expression turning determined. It was time to stop being weak. Kuno needed him.
Kuno whimpered faintly as she awoke, blinking her eyes open slowly. Immediately, she tried to struggle, realising that her hooves and head were affixed in place. Her heart began to pound, and she shuddered, her first though being of a guillotine. A quick glance around revealed that she was in a wooden stockade. A quick shift of her hindlegs revealed that she had manacles around her hooves. She was captured.
Sunlight was all around, and as her eyes adjusted, she realised she was bound in place, in the courtyard of the Canterlot Palace, where she was easily visible to the guards patrolling the walls and any visitors to the castle itself. A soft sigh left the changeling, and she hung her head. This was the public shame area. She was being made an example of: being publicly displayed like a trophy.
Four hours. Four painful, tear-filled, agonising hours was how long it took Warden to walk to Canterlot. His hoof was splinted very roughly with tattered bandages and a leg of his chair. One of his wings hung limp, and tears dripped from under his helmet. He had barely been able to get his wing through the chest armor, but he had managed it somehow.
After taking three magic suppressants to dull the pain, he had begun the long trek. One hoof after the other. Time was meaningless. But he had a goal, and he was going to reach it, one way or another.
As he walked through the Canterlot streets, ponies tried to help him, seeing the pain he was in. He ignored them completely, just staggering through the street towards the palace, head lowered, expression hidden under his helmet.
By the time Warden reached the front gate of the Canterlot Palace, he had garnered quite a crowd, slowly following him, equal parts concerned and curious, exchanging hushed whispers among themselves.
Shining Armor himself met Warden at the front gate of the palace, the Guard Captain resplendent in his purple armor.
“Halt, soldier! What happened to you?”
Warden lifted his head, pausing in his dogged steps, murmuring, “Life happened.”
The pegasus started to limp forwards again, but Shining Armor sidestepped in front of him, holding out his spear horizontally, blocking his progress. “Identify yourself, soldier.”
Warden paused at that, sitting back on his haunches and then drawing his own spear, holding it awkwardly in one hoof. The crowd gasped, and many withdrew, forming a circle around the two of them, comprised of regular ponies and royal guards.
“Walking here was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I’ll walk right through you to get to her,” Warden murmured, grimacing.
“To get to...” Shining Armor trailed off, completely unintimidated by the pegasus’ spear.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” Warden stated, brows furrowing.
“You’re... here for the changeling?” Shining Armor asked, his eyes narrowing as he gave a slow shake of his head. “You’ll not progress any further.”
Warden sighed faintly, hefting his spear, and then hopping forwards, twisting it to bring the back of the spear down on the Guard Captain’s head.
Shining Armor dodged deftly, and then quickly brought the end of his own spear up, the but tip catching Warden right under the chin, lifting him off his hooves and dumping him on his back. His helmet clattered away, bouncing and thudding until it came to rest at the hooves of one of the guards.
“Cease and desist!” Shining Armor demanded.
Warden gripped his spear, and doggedly pushed himself to his hooves again, adjusting his grip on the spear and stepping towards the Guard Captain, moving to him him again.
Shining Armor stepped into the blow, easily pushing Warden’s spear away, and then delivering a pair of brutal, fast blows to the pegasus’ head and neck with the blunt end of the spear, sending Warden reeling to the ground again.
“Why do you continue to fight?!” Shining Armor demanded to know.
“Only thing left worth fighting for,” Warden muttered as he staggered to his hooves again, limping slightly as he tried to keep his balance.
The guard captain stepped forwards again, sweeping Warden’s spear away deftly, and then shoving him over bodily, his spear point coming around to rest against the pegasus’ throat, the razor-sharp point digging into the soft flesh.
Warden just stared up at him cloudy eyes, emotionless.
“What are you doing Warden?! Consorting with changelings?!” Shining Armor demanded to know.
Warden stared up at the guard captain, and then, slowly, he smiled.
Shining Armor was caught off guard by that, unbalanced.
“You don’t even know...” Warden murmured. “Don’t even... just... you see her as a monster. Don’t even see the pony underneath.”
“She is a changeling!” Shining Armor stated with a growl.
Warden turned his head, catching sight of Kuno watching with teary eyes, struggling against the stockade futiley.
“She’s so much more than that...” Warden murmured, laying his cheek on the warm flagstone with a shudder. “So much more...”
“She’s got you brainwashed!” Shining Armor hissed, shaking his head.
Warden laughed at that, shaking his own head. “You’re the one who’s brainwashed. Brainwashed to hate them. Brainwashed to be close-minded... She’s not a monster. She’s... she’s beautiful. I love her. If you can find something to charge her with beyond being born as what she is, then go ahead! Execute her!”
The pegasus growled faintly, and then his good hoof was suddenly gripping Shining Armor’s spear, just below the bladed tip, holding it firmly against his own throat. “If I deserve to die for trying to be with the one I love, then go ahead! Do it! Kill me!”
Shining Armor stared down at the pegasus, uncertain.
A figure stepped out of the crowd, moving quickly towards the guard captain. Princess Cadance stared down at Warden as well, and then exchanged an urgent, hushed conversation with her husband in quiet whispers.
Warden relinquished the spear tip, just sighing and laying his head on the flagstones, staring at Kuno, so close, and yet so far away.
Kuno stared at him in return, a tear trickling down her cheek. She said his name, but she was too far away for him to hear it.
Shining Armor finished talking with his wife, and then stared down at the pegasus, before taking a slow step backwards. He made a motion with his hoof, and the guards spread out uncertainly, making a path between Warden and the bound Kuno.
Warden blinked slowly, and then pushed himself to his hooves shakily, staring with wonder at the straight shot to the changeling. Without asking questions, he began to hobble towards the stockade. He exchanged a glance with Cadance in passing: the alicorn of love, and she just nodded gently in understanding, mouthing ‘go to her’.
The pegasus stumbled as he reached the stockade, pulling himself up onto Kuno’s level and kissing her urgently, throwing his hooves around her.
“I-I thought I lost you,” Warden murmured breathlessly, kissing the changeling again with a fervent motion.
“I-I’m sorry, Warden,” Kuno whispered, kissing him in response, her ears splayed back. “I shouldn’t have gone to Daggertail... it’s all my fault.”
Warden shook his head firmly. “Shhhh. Shhhh...”
Kuno fell silent, staring self-consciously at the crowd watching them. “W-what now?”
“We go home,” Warden murmured, a shaking hoof lifting to open the stockade, undoing the levers and lifting the block. He winced in pain, gritting his teeth, but managed to get the changeling loose.
Kuno wiggled free, and then stared around nervously, taking note of how many of the royal guard were there. There were dozens.
“W-Warden...” Kuno murmured fearfully.
“Be strong, Kuno,” Warden responded, pushing himself wearily to his hooves and placing his good wing over the changeling, starting to walk with her towards the front gate.
The entire crowd, ponies, royal guards, guard captain and princess alike, all watched the unlikely pair in silence. Not a single pony lifted a hoof to help, but neither did a single pony try to stop them as Warden slowly hobbled out of the palace courtyard with the one he loved.
Warden made it all the way to the main street of Canterlot before he collapsed, staggering and falling to the road heavily. Kuno couldn’t wake him.
Several things happened in Canterlot over the next few days. A young pegasus was seen going to the Canterlot bank and withdrawing her entire savings account, buying up a plot of land in the far north. Her name: Fleetwing.
Authorities were called in to investigate the death of one Daggertail, whom was found with a dagger buried in his throat. The investigators concluded, quite firmly, that he had been murdered by Sunshine, long-time underling and petty criminal. This conclusion was reached even though Sunshine was found three miles away in a ditch with his neck broken. The investigators decided that he had fallen while trying to flee, breaking his neck. Case closed. Any evidence to the contrary was ‘filed for proper review’ and promptly ignored.
And the members of the Canterlot hospital became rather used to the odd sight of a changeling sitting by the bedside of an unconscious pegasus, watching over him like a hawk.
Everyone knew the story of Kuno, and the pegasus who had trekked four miles with a broken leg to try and rescue her. It was said that Princess Cadance herself had been the one who convinced Shining Armor to let them go, and the royal guard themselves were wary of the changeling, but did nothing to impede her.
Kuno stared down at Warden, biting her bottom lip. He was in an induced coma until his injuries healed. He had internal bleeding, broken ribs, broken hoof, and broken wing. He would never be able to fly again, and he would always walk with a limp.
And he had trekked four miles on a suicide mission to save her.
Kuno felt her eyes misting with tears as she stared down at him, and gently laid a letter on his chest, and then another piece of paper, and, with a shaking hoof, her collar.
Once she was done, Kuno slipped out of the hospital, and was never seen there again.
Warden took eight entire days to awaken, and when he did, he was alone. Kuno was gone. All that remained was her note, a deed to a plot of land in the far frozen north, and her collar.
The note read:
Dear Warden.
I don’t know how to say this. But I’m leaving. I have decided that I do not love you. I do not know what love is. Love is for ponies. Love is more than just a food source, more than just a sensation. More than just a food source.
You showed me what love is, what it can do. You trekked four miles to save me. Four miles with a broken leg, wing, and internal injuries.
You did all this because you love me. I’ve felt it. I know it. You know it.
But if I change events in my mind, I know that I would not be able to do the same.
You are an amazing pony, Warden. And you deserve a pony who loves you as much as you love them. I’m sorry I’m not that pony, but I sincerely hope you find her someday.
Thank you for everything, Warden. Be happy. You deserve to be happy and in love.
Yours truly
Kuno
Warden was seen by several of the nurses to be holding the collar and the letter to his chest late at night, crying himself to sleep.
Two months later
Warden looked up at the four pegasus who were tethered to his crate of seeds, carrying it to the north, fading into the distance, before he cast his glance back at Canterlot. He was leaving it all behind, to start anew in the far north, where he could forget everything.
He had sold his house, turned over the Aurora to the guards, and attested at to a courtroom about the drug trade in Canterlot, and Kuno’s part in everything that had happened. Eventually, the magistrates had decided that his actions in growing the Aurora were excusable as he was under duress, and Kuno was innocent in the whole ordeal, though she would be watched if she was found again.
Sighing faintly, Warden looked down at the letter from Kuno, and then silently ripped it into pieces, and scattered them to the wind.
“Goodbye, Kuno...” Warden whispered, as he limped to the carriage and pulled himself up into it. “Thank you for everything...”
Warden pulled the door closed, and then tapped on the divider between him and the driver. The carriage trundled off towards the north, carrying Warden in it, bearing him towards his new life.