Warden rummaged through the cupboards, huffing faintly. “He moved everything!”
Kuno looked over his shoulder, a brow raised. “Whatcha looking for anyhow?”
The pegasus frowned to himself, pushing aside an empty box of cat food. “Liquid nails,” he explained, sitting back on his haunches with a huff. “But they’re gone.”
“Liquid nails?” Kuno asked, blinking once.
“Silicon. Comes in a tube about yay long,” Warden held out his hooves a fair distance from eachother. “Hardens into a kind of firm clear stuff when it’s exposed to air. Plugs leak real good.”
“Oh, to fix the roof!” Kuno said with a happy nod, cottoning on.
Warden nodded in response, snorting once. “But they’re gone. Lord knows where it went. Ugh.”
There was a short silence, before Warden gave an ‘ah-hah!’ and moved into the kitchen, coming up from a cupboard with a hoofful of candles.
“Candles?” Kuno asked blankly.
Warden nodded and smiled, motioning outside with his nose. “I’ll show you.”
Warden carefully stood on the roof, keeping his weight above the bearing beams so he wouldn’t fall through. Kuno was balanced besides him, her wings fluttering slowly to keep some of her weight off the roof itself.
Warden was shielding a candle from the downdraft of Kuno’s wings, holding it over the crack in the roofing where water was seeping through. He had a long piece of tin nailed down already, and was just sealing up the cracks with the dripping candlewax. It only had to hold until he could get some proper roofing supplies.
“So... Why are we here, Warden?” Kuno asked, tilting her head to the side slightly.
Warden looked up, raising a brow, a candle clasped between his teeth. He transferred the candle to his good hoof, pursing his lips. “Well, you’d like a bed to sleep on, and we need the bath for things like bubble baths and drowning small animals.”
Kuno shook her head, giggling faintly. “No, silly. Why are we back here. We could have gone anywhere. Even to the griffon kingdom, but you came all the way back here.”
“Well, I did have a house just lying around doing nothing,” Warden said, rubbing a hoof against his chin thoughtfully. “Other than that... it’s familiar. I know ponies here.”
The changeling raised a brow slowly, and then shook her head. “Warden, it’s me. I know there’s a reason you gave up the farm so easily. You wanted to come back here.”
Warden gave a wan smile at that, putting the candle aside, resting it against a hindleg so it wouldn’t roll off the roof. “You know me too well...” he admitted, frowning slightly for a moment, before looking up at her carefully. “I just... I want to grow aurora again.”
“The super-hard-to-grow, explosive, narcotic, addictive wonder-drug aurora?” Kuno asked with a tilt of her head.
Warden nodded slowly.
“And you want to grow it again?” Kuno asked with a slow shake of her head. “Are you crazy?”
Warden smiled and then nodded calmly. “Yup. But... outside of you, growing aurora is about the only thing I have to be proud of. You know there’s only three growers left in all of Equestria? I checked.”
“So you gave up your dream... just so you could go chasing after aurora?” Kuno asked, raising a brow and perking an ear.
Warden frowned at that, and then shook his head. “No, not just that. It was more... those ponies owned that land originally, and they deserved to have it back. And I have a fallback that I rather enjoy doing.”
Kuno nodded gently. “Practical.”
“And you came with me, so I have everything I need,” Warden added with a smile.
Kuno giggled faintly, waving a hoof. “Stop trying to be cute, that’s my job.”
Warden nodded, picking up the candle and then clenching it between his teeth, limping to the edge of the roof and then beginning to carefully step down over the crates he had to stack up to get onto the roof. He reminded himself to buy a ladder. Back when his wings worked, owning a ladder had seemed laughable. Not any more.
Kuno gracefully landed beside him, peering at him sideways. “What happened to your aurora plants when you were in the hospital?”
“They withered and died. One of Daggertail’s cronies tried to take over the operation, and tried to work the vines himself. He died.” Warden said emotionlessly.
“He died?” Kuno asked with a slow blink.
“I never told you that aurora is poisonous?” Warden asked casually.
Kuno’s eyes widened and she shuddered. “No!”
“Oh, well... it releases spores. Of the magic kind.” Warden paused, pointing with a hoof towards his garden. “That plant there releases spores that counter the effects. Grows like a weed. I guess he didn’t know that. By the time the doctors figured out why he was having trouble breathing, he was already too far gone.”
“You put me near a poisonous plant without telling me?!” Kuno asked, aghast.
Warden shrugged, giving a helpless laugh. “You were in no danger. So long as you came back to the house afterwards.”
“Ugh, this aurora stuff is so... dangerous and crazy!” Kuno complained. “Why does it have to be so complicated. Can’t it just do one thing and leave it at that?”
Warden shook his head. “I already told that it’s a spliced plant from several other variations of herbs and the like, right?”
“Right,” Kuno responded with a nod. “Unicorns trying to make a super-plant.”
“Well, super plants usually have super defenses. Defenses against being destroyed by bugs, or plagues, or anything like that. And when they combined them, they gave up before they managed to phase out the dangerous bits of the plants. The entire project was just... cancelled. Took a crazy unicorn by the name of Earth Waker to say ‘hey, why don’t I try grow this thing?’.
And even that takes a combination of special herbs that you have to steep in boiling water, and then pour that over the vine. You have to keep the vine in the correct positioning wherever it’s growing, because once the bulbs grow, they put weight on the vine itself and can snap it off...” Warden trailed off, wrinkling his nose. “It’s so hard to grow... but it’s so rewarding when you finally get it right.”
Kuno nodded, leaning sideways to kiss his cheek. “Whatever makes you happy, Warden. Do you... think that I should get a job?”
Warden blinked once. “What would you get a job doing?”
“I’ve picked up a lot of skills in my time,” Kuno stated with a slow smile.
Warden paused at that, and then splayed his ears. “You’re not thinking of starting up a whorehouse or something, are you?”
Kuno gave a gasp, swatting the pegasus on the shoulder. “Pervert!”
Warden slowly raised a brow at the changeling.
“Okay! But it was only for a few seconds, honest!” Kuno said with a giggle.
Warden shook his head, hugging the changeling tightly. “I... kinda don’t want you to get a job.”
“Whyever not?” Kuno asked curiously.
Warden paused at that, looking down at his hooves, kicking a pebble. “Well... if you get a job, you won’t be around as much. I kinda like how you’re just... always there whenever I want you.”
“Awww, you’re so sweet,” Kuno said with a smile, nudging the pegasus gently with her nose. “But you also enjoy eating. I can go without food for months with you around... but I’m afraid that you wouldn’t last very long without sustenance.”
Warden gave a nod at that. “But if I go get a permit for growing aurora, I’ll get a stipend from the royal treasury as long as I pledge to sell a certain amount of my crop to the government.”
Kuno blinked once. “Oh... then what are you waiting for?!”
“I gotta go to Canterlot for that,” Warden said with a wrinkled nose. “Judging from my last walk there... it’ll take three hours. Maybe four. And I still have to make sure the house is all watertight, and buy blankets, and get out stuff unpacked...”
“Silly,” Kuno said, kissing his nose gently. “Go and get your permit. I’ll unpack all the stuff for you, and catch up to you when I’m done. Just don’t get eaten by something on the road there, kay?”
“I promise I won’t intentionally die,” Warden said, crossing a hoof over his heart and then kissing the changeling gently. “See you in Canterlot, then!”
Warden huffed hard as he stepped through the large front gates of Canterlot, his chest heaving with the exertion. The heat was getting to him. After living in the snow for the better part of a year, he was exceptionally unused to the warmth and humidity.
There was a rustle of movement besides him, and Kuno, in her pegasus form, straightened up, stretching and yawning faintly. “Had a good walk?”
Warden gave a grunt of annoyance, pushing the changeling with a hoof and shaking his head. “Tease.”
Kuno giggled, holding up a pouch and wiggling it in front of him. “You forgot your money.”
Warden blinked, looking chagrined, and then took the bag of money, opening it up and then passing a hoofful of coins to the changeling. “Go get yourself something nice, like a cake or something.”
“Can I get another collar?!” Kuno asked immediately, bouncing in place slightly. “The old one is getting... old. And raggedy!”
“If you really want to,” Warden said with a faint laugh.
Kuno grinned, bounding away down the street without another word.
Warden headed straight for the castle, seeking an audience with Celestia. It was a long, boring process of waiting in line after that. Ahead of him, at least a dozen other ponies sought to see the princess with issues trivial and important. All of them were impatient, but Warden tried his best not to fidget too much. Slowly, the line dwindled.
Kuno arrived after nearly an hour of Warden sitting in the waiting room. She had a brown box in her hooves, apparently holding her new collar, and she was bouncing slightly in place, further confirming his suspicions.
“Oh, go on then, show me,” Warden said with a smile.
Kuno immediately popped the box open, producing a new red collar with gold banding on it. A neat line of stitchwork had been inlaid, which, upon close examination, said ‘Property of Warden’.
Warden just shook his head, smiling and kissing the pegasus on the cheek. “You are so goofy.”
“I can’t wait until we get home!” Kuno said with a happy little bounce. “I’ll even let you put another tether on it if you ask nicely!”
“You mean if I cave into your persistent begging?” Warden asked with a raised brow.
“Same difference!” Kuno said with an airy wave of a hoof, snuggling up against Warden’s side. She’d barely even gotten comfortable when a guardpony called, ‘Warden!’
“That’s me,” Warden said with a grimace, gently disentangling himself from the changed pegasus. “I’ll be back soon.”
Kuno huffed faintly, hugging the box containing her new collar to her chest, and watching him with a surly expression. “I want extra snuggles when you get back!”
Warden was gone for a long time. Longer than any other pony had been. It wasn’t long at all before Kuno was bored, and began to pore over the magazines left there as reading material. It was partway through reading an article on the differences between mules and ponies in socially strenuous circumstances, when she felt a tugging at her forehoof.
Kuno tilted the magazine away, peering down at the floor, where a very small unicorn foal was staring up at her with big, amazingly blue eyes. “Apple fwitter?” the baby asked in a garbled accent.
Blinking again, Kuno gave an uncertain frown. “I’m sorry little one... I don’t have any apple fritter.”
“Apple fwitter...?” the baby asked, in a much less enthusiastic tone.
Kuno bit her bottom lip, frowning slightly. She rummaged in the collar box for a few moments, coming up with a carefully wrapped donut she had been saving for a mid-flight snack on the way home. She held it out towards the baby. “Is this good enough?”
Wordlessly, the baby took the donut and gobbled it up. One moment it was there, the next it was just gone.
“Frank yew,” the baby said, pulling itself up against the changed pegasus and snuggling in under her wing without hesitation, promptly falling sleep.
Warden came strutting out of the royal chambers with a decree held between his teeth. An official-looking seal rested on the rolled parchment.
Kuno looked up, giving a sigh of relief, beckoning him over closer.
Warden came to stand besides her, grinning. “I got it! I got the permit!”
“I knew you would,” Kuno said with a warm smile.
“Well, time to get going, then. A lot to prepare for!” Warden said, bouncing slightly in place.
Kuno gave a strained expression. “I can’t!”
“Whyever not?” Warden asked blankly.
Kuno delicately pulled her wing back, to reveal the sleeping foal under it, contentedly curled up there.
“You stole a foal?!” Warden asked, aghast.
“No!” Kuno protested immediately, huffing faintly. “What even... just... he sort of... just came up to me asking for food. And I didn’t know what to do and he just crawled up there and he’s so frigging cute!”
Warden suppressed a laugh, shaking his head. “The parents haven’t come hunting for him?”
“Not yet,” Kuno said, looking worriedly left and right. “They won’t think I stole him, will they?”
Warden’s response was interrupted by an earth pony galloping past, looking hurriedly into the room and then bounding to the next doorway.
With a shake of his head, Warden moved to the doorway, beckoning to the earth pony. The earth pony ran over to Warden, and then followed him to Kuno. Kuno lifted her wing again, revealing the little foal tucked under there.
The earth pony gave a relieved sigh and laughed. “Oh thank Celestia, I was having images of him finding the blasted balcony!”
Kuno smiled faintly, offering the foal to the pony. The earth pony took the foal in his hooves, and the little unicorn huffed and rolled over, mumbling something completely incoherent before falling back to sleep. “Thank you!” the earth pony said, before bolting off, presumably to take the foal back to it’s mother.
Kuno stared after him, looking wistful.
“Something the matter?” Warden asked curiously.
Kuno turned back towards him, and was silent for several long, long moments, before she said quietly. “I want a baby.”
Four hours. Four long hours of walking and talking, and Kuno and Warden finally arrived back at the cottage. They had decided on several things. Kuno wanted a baby, Warden wasn’t against the idea, and they’d already performed the prerequisite activities for a baby enough times on various occasions that it was almost completely impossible to fathom that they could ever succeed.
Kuno was the one who came to the ultimate conclusion though, as they were both stepping in the front door.
There was only one person in the entire world who knew enough about changelings to know if it was even possible for them to have a child together.
They would have to go see Queen Chrysalis.