Kuno gently stroked her hoof through Warden’s mane, rubbing her cheek against his own soothingly. Night had fallen properly, and it was extremely dark, what with the cloud cover and the light drizzle. Warden hadn’t spoken for hours, and Kuno had left him to it, just hugging him and stroking her hoof against him reassuringly.
“Are you okay?” Kuno asked gently, kissing his forehead warmly.
Warden looked up at her, sniffling once, and then looking away. “I... I guess I am...”
Kuno nosed against him softly. “Are you sure?” she asked quietly, stroking a hoof slowly through his mane.
Warden nodded, licking his lips and rubbing a hoof against his eyes. “I just... it was a... there was this thing that existed... and I never knew about it... and it’s gone now. But I can’t... I can’t help but wonder what it would have been like... what could have been...”
Kuno nodded gently, hugging the pegasus tightly and soothingly stroking her hooves against his sides. “I understand.”
Warden took a deep, steadying breath, staring down at his hooves, his tail giving an uncertain flick back and forth. “It hurts...” he murmured softly, closing his eyes and shaking his head. “It hurts so bad.”
The changeling whined faintly, wrapping her hooves around him, squeezing tightly. “I’m sorry, Warden.”
“D-don’t be,” Warden said, shaking his head firmly.
Kuno blinked at that, tilting her head down a little to peer into his eyes. “What’re you saying?”
“I-It feels good,” Warden admitted, his ears pinning back, keeping his eyes closed. “It hurts... so much. But... I prefer it to hurt than to not feel anything. I need that pain. It’s part of me. I need that pain so I’ll know I haven’t forgotten Swarm...”
“I can’t... pretend to understand...” Kuno said gently, nudging his cheek with her own. “But I respect your emotions.”
“You think I’m stupid...” Warden murmured, shaking his head.
Kuno shook her head. “No, Warden,” she soothed, stroking his cheek with a hoof, holding him close.
“C-can you tolerate that? Knowing that there’s a part of me that doesn’t belong to you?” Warden asked plaintively, scratching at the ground with a hoof in a broken way. “Knowing that you’ll never get all of me? That I’m... damaged goods?”
Kuno frowned at that, squeezing him with her hooves. “My damaged goods. You... you were the first pony I ever met who liked me for me. You didn’t hate me just because of what I am. You fell in love with me, and you showed me what love truly is. You made me see it as more than a food source, and you changed my life entirely.”
Warden remained silent, resting his cheek against her neck, his eyes closed.
“If... If I lost you, I wouldn’t be able to continue. I’d just... curl up in the corner and cry until I died. I couldn’t handle that... I couldn’t go on living. I’d never smile again. I wouldn’t survive... the fact that you can still function as a pony on any level just... it surprises me. You’re stronger than you give yourself credit for, Warden.”
Warden nodded against Kuno gently, his ears pinned back. “I-I guess...”
“And you’re terrified... not of losing anything, but because you feel like you’re forgetting her. I can only wish that someday, somepony will feel that strongly for me.”
Warden sighed faintly, wrapping his hooves around the changeling and squeezing her tightly. “You make me out to be some great prize.”
“You are a prize,” Kuno affirmed, squeezing him in response. “My prize.”
Warden nodded again, and gently stroked a hoof down her back, trailing over her wings. “I... I guess. Thank you, Kuno... for not telling me about... that... until I needed to hear it...”
Kuno hugged him tightly, gently stroking over his good wing. “I know there was somepony in your life before I came along. I know that... you were hurt by her passing. And that you’ll never truly be back to how you were before that... but I know I can at least make you happy. And you make me happy. And that’s what matters more than anything, right?”
Warden gave a faint smile at that, rubbing his cheek against Kuno’s neck gently. He looked from her, to the gravestone, and then back again, his ears pinning back. He opened his mouth to say something, and then stopped. closing his mouth and frowning.
“What is it?” Kuno asked gently, nuzzling him softly.
Warden looked away, head hanging slightly. “I-I still feel like I’m betraying Swarm...”
Kuno splayed her ears back. “Why?”
Pausing, Warden stared at Kuno, his brows furrowing, and his hoof scratching at the ground again. “Because... even though there’s a part of me that is devoted to Swarm... I know that deep down... in my ‘heart of hearts’... I love you more than I ever loved Swarm...”
Kuno’s cheeks flushed faintly at that, and she couldn’t help the smile spreading across her muzzle. “I... understand that you’re having mixed feelings, Warden. But I want to bounce and hug you so enthusiastically that I accidentally hurt your wing and hoof,” Kuno said matter-of-factly.
Warden gave a long-suffering sigh. “Very well then.”
Kuno bounced, pouncing on him and tackling him to the ground, hugging him tightly with her hooves, squeezing and kissing across his cheeks, neck, and face with a fervent enthusiasm. “I love you toooo!” she crooned, squeezing him tightly. “So, so much!”
Warden gave a helpless laugh, hugging the changeling tightly, wrapping both hooves around her and kissing her nose. “Thank you, Kuno... thank you for being you. You make my days brighter.”
Kuno placed a hoof over his mouth, rolling her eyes. “Don’t you go on with that sappy stuff or I’ll do that whole teasy, seductive defense mechanism you have no counter to.”
Rolling his own eyes in response, Warden kissed her nose again. “I’m not just saying it, Kuno. I mean it. I don’t know where I would be without you...”
“Probably still making aurora for Daggertail,” Kuno pointed out with a deep frown, hugging around him tightly. “You owe me a marriage, remember that.”
Warden smiled faintly. “How could I ever forget?”
“I know you can’t if I keep reminding you,” Kuno said, poking his chest, her expression serious.
Warden smiled, hugging the changeling tightly. His head turned slightly, and his eyes fell on Swarm’s gravestone, and he went quiet.
Kuno nuzzled him gently. “Don’t dwell on it, Warden. That never solves problems,” she murmured soothingly.
Warden nodded. “I... need to go into town. Give me a few hours?”
Blinking, Kuno perked her ears up. “What? Whatever for?”
“I need to... settle some things,” Warden said with a gentle nod. “I just have to do it, okay? I’ll be back before too long. Don’t eat all the cake, I’ll bring you back something nice.”
Kuno huffed faintly, drawing back and then nodding once. “I suppose. But you had better be back in time for naughty things.”
Warden smiled. “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
Warden returned to the cottage a full two hours later, a pack slung over his shoulder, the end of it gripped in his mouth.
Kuno was sitting by the front door in a chair, licking a bowl of icing happily, a spoon stuck through one of the holes in her hooves. She looked up as she noticed Warden, frowning slightly. “Whatcha got in there?”
“Stuff,” Warden said, placing down the pack gently and then stepping inside. He pushed a painting aside, and reached into the hole in the wall behind it, courtesy of the previous tenant, and grabbed something from within.
Kuno stared after him. “Warden, what’re you doing?”
“You know me,” Warden stated, raising a brow at her. “Guess.”
“I... don’t know,” Kuno murmured.
Warden pointed with a hoof, towards the sky. “That cloud up there. Meet me there.”
Kuno stared. “What?”
“The cloud. Go lie on it,” Warden stated with a wave of a hoof. He opened up the package he had retrieved from in the wall, and pulled a small bag of powder from inside it. Somewhere within the package, a bell jingled. Warden squinted, scrunching up his nose, and then opened the little powder pouch and inhaled hard. Immediately, he sneezed and coughed, turning his head and wincing. “Oh wow...” he murmured, swaying slightly.
Kuno stared at him with wide eyes. “Warden, you’re scaring me.”
“Race you to the cloud!” Warden said with a giddy grin, slinging the pack over his back and then bounding away from the front door, spreading his wings and springing into the air.
Kuno’s eyes widened further, and she stared at him, mouth agape, blinking rapidly. After several long moments, she snapped out of it, and bounded uncertainly after him, leaping into the air after him. After only a few moments, she caught up to him. His wingbeats were unsure, the wingbeats in a cadence of a pegasus whom hadn’t flown for more than a year.
“H-how are you flying?!” Kuno called out.
Warden grinned sideways at her, his eyes slightly glassy. “The magic of greenery! The cloud!” he called, pointing up at the cloud, twisting in the air and beating his way up towards it.
Kuno followed after him, wings flapping at the air much faster than his large ones, bearing her up towards the cloud.
The pegasus and changeling both thudded down to a gentle landing on the cloud, and Warden immediately rolled atop the changeling, kissing her with a firm fervour.
Kuno purred, kissing him in response, humming happily. “How is this possible?”
Warden smiled again. “Been powdering the Wonder Weed for months now in preparation. Carefully mixed it with some stimulants so it won’t knock me out immediately. My entire body is slightly numb. Feels like I’m wearing a thick, blubbery glove.”
“Why did you do this to yourself?!” Kuno asked, concerned, her eyes wide.
Warden smiled, rolling over onto his back and splaying out besides her. “Because I’m going to regret this so much in the morning.”
“Regret what?” Kuno asked, completely bewildered.
“Doing all of this up here, instead of on the ground,” Warden said with a smile, digging around in his pack. He came up with a chestpiece, which he began to strap to his chest. And then a helmet, and then the greaves, and the shoes. He held his hooves out. “Help me into this? I can’t do it myself.”
Warily, Kuno stepped closer, picking up the helmet, frowning down at it. It was a very fancy helmet, white and gold, sleek and handsome.
“Y-you’re not... going to jump off here, are you?” Kuno asked with a deep frown.
Warden laughed, shaking his head and taking the helmet from her, sliding it over his head. Immediately, he looked at least twice as awesome as he did beforehoof. “In Shining Armor’s best dress-armor?” Warden asked with a sly grin. “Definitely not. He’d kill me after he finished scraping me out of it.”
“Warden... you’re scaring me,” Kuno murmured.
Smiling, Warden dug back into the pack, coming up with two final objects, holding them out.
Kuno stared, her eyes slowly widening.
The first object was a hornring, like the gold one around her horn. But this ring was white gold inlaid with actual proper gold, and a perfectly etched inscription: Property of Warden.
The second object was a collar, white instead of red, threaded in gold and with gold-plated lettering declaring ‘KUNO’. A white-gold bell hung from the front of it, with a white ribbon trailing from the bottom of it.
“W-Warden, t-these are-” Kuno stammered.
Warden shook the ring and collar gently. “C’mon, put them on!”
With shaking hooves, Kuno took the collar and ring, removing the current ones she was wearing and then replacing them with the new white-gold versions.
“I-I didn’t get you a-any...” Kuno murmured, a faint whine in her voice.
Warden shook his head, shushing her. “You can get me one later. For now, help me into my armor.”
Kuno stepped closer to him, beginning to gently tug the clasps closed, helping her fiance into the armor. When she was done, he looked positively awesome, dressed nose-to-hoof in white and gold armor, gleaming in the moonlight.
There was a soft, distant ‘pop’, and Warden motioned with his nose.
Kuno gasped faintly, staring out across the countryside to where fireworks were beginning to boom and spark in the distance.
“F-fireworks as well?” she asked hesitantly, staring at them.
“Pulled out all the stops,” Warden said with a smile.
“B-but w-who-”
Kuno never got to finish her sentence as there was a rustle of wings, and Princess Cadance landed on the cloud next to them, looking back and forth.
Warden raised a brow, looking at his future wife with a wild grin.
Kuno flushed faintly, her ears pinning back, adjusting her new collar with a breathless smile.
Both Warden and Kuno stepped forwards, to stand side-by-side in front of Princess Cadance. Cadance produced a small black book with stars on the cover, and opened it to the relevant page, smiling at them both over the top of it.
“We are gathered here today-”