Warden huffed, delicately twisting the aurora fruit from its stem and letting it drop gently into his good hoof, before he passed it carefully to one of the guards behind him.
There were a total of four royal guards assisting him in the harvesting process, taking the fruits from him and placing them into velvet-lined cases designed to keep the delicate fruits from bruising and spoiling.
Warden was in a hurry, trying to be fast and be careful at the same time. He had already dropped one fruit when he tried to use his bad hoof to speed things up. The resultant magical ‘firework’ explosions had forced Warden to slow down and be more careful. Not to mention he owed one of the guards a new chest piece as his was now tinted a bright, vibrant pink instead of gold.
The reason Warden was in such a hurry was because he had received word that morning that Kuno was having the foal!
The previous night, Kuno had complained about stomach pains, and Warden had immediately dosed himself up with Greenswathe and basically dragged the heavily-pregnant pegasus changeling to the Ponyville hospital. But then Warden had to leave. He knew the growing timetable, and for optimal results, the aurora needed to be harvested that day.
And then the messenger had shown up and told him that Kuno was having the foal.
And thus, Warden was in a hurry: moving as fast as he could without risking more fruits. The swollen yellow-and-red fruits were being packaged away, and Warden was on the last few. The guards, somehow, lacked the ability to remove the fruit from the stems without ‘coring’ the fruit. The swollen flesh was actually very fragile, and it required a very specific twist and yank to get the stem to break without tugging the core and seeds of the fruit out in their entirety.
Kuno had been, for want of a better term, a ‘hormonal bitch’ throughout the entire pregnancy. As Warden soon found, changelings were largely unable to deal with hormonal emotion changes. Kuno had gone from an amorous horny ‘I want you right now!’ attitude, to ‘why are you so useless?!’ and ‘I don’t even know why I love you!’ to ‘please forgive me, I love you and I’m sorry’ in the amount of time it took Warden to get her bloated form into the bath.
But, when Warden had his wife curled up in bed with him, with him snuggled against her back and a hoof gently rubbing at her swollen stomach, it was impossible not to forgive her.
And now, he was missing the birth! He had tried his best to promise her that he would be there to hold her hoof throughout it. Kuno hid it well, but she was scared.
But then he had to go and harvest the aurora or risk it all spoiling.
Warden gave a weary sigh as he tugged down the final fruit and passed it off to one of the guards.
“I’ll be back... erm... later!” Warden said, as he turned on his hooves and hobbled as fast away down the ravine as he could.
Dosed up on greenswathe powder, Warden landed heavily in front of the hospital, sprawling out for several long seconds and gritting his teeth. The powder was losing its effectiveness as his body gained resistance against it. Pretty soon, it wouldn’t even be enough to allow him to walk on his bad hoof properly.
Panting, face pink from the pain, Warden hobbled through the front doors of the hospital and then immediately bolted up the stairs to the second floor, bounding down the hallway, dodging a nurse coming out of a room, and skidding to a halt in front of one of the rooms.
Looking in, Warden saw his wife laying in bed, a blue bundle in her hooves as she stared down into the bundle with such a look of love on her face that Warden couldn’t bring himself to step into the room and disturb her.
Warden wasn’t sure how long he stood there, watching his wife staring down into the bundle. Eventually, Kuno looked up, and caught sight of him, beckoning to him urgently.
Warden slipped into the room, skidding to a halt in front of the bed, leaning over carefully.
“L-look Warden... w-we have a f-foal,” Kuno whispered, her voice breaking, tears of happiness in her eyes as she held out the bundle.
Gently, Warden took the bundle from her, pulling aside a fold of cloth to reveal the young pegasus within. She was a soft, powder blue from nose to hooves, with a blonde mane and the most beautiful green eyes staring up at him as she quietly observed him, cooing faintly.
Warden swallowed hard, staring down at his daughter with a rapt expression. A giggle broke him from his reverie, and he looked up sharply, cheeks flushing.
“She’s mesmerizing, isn’t she?” Kuno whispered.
Warden nodded wordlessly, pulling himself up onto the bed with his wife and pressing his cheek against her own lovingly. “Sorry I wasn’t here for the birth, Kuno... I have no excuse.”
“I forgive you,” Kuno whispered, kissing his cheek gently. “Warden... we have a daughter.”
Warden smiled, leaning against his wife and wrapping a hoof around her middle, holding her close as they both stared down into the bundle that held their daughter.
“She’s like me,” Kuno said, smiling and spreading the bundle slightly to show him the bell she had affixed to the foal’s tail with a red ribbon. The bell jingled, and immediately, the foal curled around slightly, chuffing at the bell and nudging it with her nose, seemingly enjoying the high-pitched jingle it made.
Warden smiled, feeling his heart melt, a lump rising in his throat. “Just like her mother...”
The foal nudged the bell again, and then sneezed violently, rocking the bundle with the violence of the motion, blinking rapidly and shaking her head. Kuno giggled softly, motioning with her nose towards the baby.
Warden blinked, his brows furrowing. When she sneezed, the foal’s eyes had changed from vivid green to a vibrant, lovely pink.
“J-Just like her mother,” Warden murmured past the lump in his throat, smiling and kissing Kuno’s cheek. “So... have you got any ideas for a name?”
Kuno looked away, biting her bottom lip, and then gave him a long stare, looking slightly nervous. “I-I... I was thinking that... m-maybe... ‘Swarm’?”
Warden’s ears pinned back at that, and he felt tears rising to his eyes as he pressed his cheek against Kuno’s gently, staring down at his daughter. His heart seemingly swelled to twice the size and melted simultaneously, and he shuddered, feeling a strange, joyous warmth in his chest. His voice wavered and broke with emotion as he stared down at his daughter, and whispered,
“Welcome to the family, Swarm.”