The Warden

by Amethyst-ACE

The Encore

Amethyst spent all night walking with Warden across Equestria. The pair was silent as the grave, not a word from either of them. Ironically enough, it was Warden who broke the silence.

“You have questions, ask them.” Though his voice was lifeless as it always was, he almost seemed like he was demanding, but at the same time also seemed curious.

“Tell me why you didn’t kill me.” Amethyst demanded.

“I’m taking you back to the hive, I have questions for you.” Warden answered.

“What kind of questions?” Asked Amethyst.

Warden suddenly slowed his pace and Amethyst mimicked the speed. It seemed the game of twenty questions was going to start right now.

“For starters, what caused you to leave the hive in the first place? Why did you abandon us and break the most important rule of our race?”

Amethyst murmured the law to himself. “A changeling shall seek love, but never succumb to it. I was curious. I wanted to know what was so terrible about the thing we spend our whole lives feeding on.”

“Curiosity is a dangerous thing to have,” warned Warden. “Especially if the one who is curious is a prince.”

Amethyst glared at Warden. “Catalyst and I are not PRINCES, we are LORDS. There is only one prince, and he is a traitor to his race!” This was the one thing in all of Equestria that he and his older brother could agree on. When the crowned prince of Thorns tried to start an uprising and take the swarm for himself, Amethyst and Catalyst renounced their titles as a show of their loyalty to the queen thus becoming the twin lords.

“You are both princes. The sooner you both acknowledge that the better you both will be.”

“We would sooner rip our hearts out and present them to the queen.” Angry hisses were slurred in with Amethyst’s response. Warden’s lantern flickered almost as if in response to what he had said. Warden began to walk faster again.

“Watch yourself, or that just might happen.”

Amethyst looked at Warden with a puzzled expression, but dismissed the taunt and they continued on.

The marshlands of Equestria were humid, dark, and most importantly, secluded. No pony dared to enter for there were rumors that some did only to never return. This was the perfect ground for the swarm, whose hive grounds nearly covered the entire marsh. Lots of buzzing noises filled the air and an average pony would think it was simply mosquitos or some other type of insignificant marsh bug. They could not be further from the truth. Changelings buzzed through the marsh in droves. Caring for the newly spawned, feasting on a stagnant love substitute, and performing various other tasks that needed to be done. Amethyst and Warden skulked along the marsh, every changeling they passed by either bowed out of respect, or backed away out of fear. Amethyst was not used to this, but for Warden this was an average day. Amethyst was unsure of what was going to become of him so he merely continued to follow Warden deeper and deeper into the marsh. Soon they found themselves in the center of the marsh, the home of the Changeling elite: his old home, once upon a time. Warden guided Amethyst into a nearby hovel where he instructed Amethyst to wait until he returned.

Amethyst got as comfortable as he could. All of the changeling’s living areas were hollowed out from large trees and wood. An average changeling would share hovels with a least a hundred others, but the elites had their own houses. Amethyst looked over the holes in his hooves. It had been far too long since he had been in his natural form for such an extended period of time; it was refreshing and comfortable, if only he could actually take the time to enjoy it. There was a knock on the hovel’s wooden door and Amethyst found himself looking at an all too familiar face as he walked through the door.

“Hello brother, so nice to have you back.” Catalyst smirked.

“I’d say I was glad to be back, but I’m currently being held captive by your attack dog.” Amethyst grumbled at his brother.
Catalyst looked shocked at his brother. Amethyst couldn’t tell if he was faking it or not.

“You think I sent Warden after you? I’m strict but I’m not heartless.”

“If it wasn’t you then who in the queen’s name did?” Amethyst commanded.

Catalyst shrugged. “All I know is that it was someone on the Queen’s council”

Amethyst continued to glare at his brother, his emotions coming to a boil.

“You’re ON the council!” He aggressively shouted. “Why didn’t you object the notion!?”

“This was done without my consent. It was done without the queen’s consent and without the consent of everyone other than the one who did it.”

Amethyst began to calm down. He didn’t want to admit it, but it almost seemed like his brother was taking his side for a change.

“You have to let me go Catalyst. You know full well I don’t belong here.”

Catalyst’s tone changed drastically, “Where you don’t belong is Ponyville! You are not a pony little brother you are a Changeling!”

Amethyst suddenly exploded into a fit of rage, his words sharp as knives. “I’M A CLONE!”

Catalyst stepped back in complete shock. Catalyst, the queen, and every one of the twin’s caretakers had told Amethyst he was of the true bloodline like he thought he was. How did Amethyst find out the truth? “How…when?”

“You didn’t think I’d find out did you?” Amethyst’s words became slurred with hisses and buzzing again. “But I’ve known since before I left. You may be a flesh and blood child of the Queen, but I was the first changeling, created as a testing ground using your DNA. This is why Illusion magic came so naturally to me, who’s better at making clones than a clone?!”

“Your creation gave birth to our race brother! You should be honored by that fact!” Catalyst was starting to become aggravated by his brother’s shortsightedness. “It’s because your birth was successful that we were able to recreate our entire kingdom.”

Amethyst’s rage showed no signs of simmering, he had forgotten how angry he could get as a changeling. He was never like this as a pony or when he was near Lilly.

“My birth was not ‘successful’ brother, I’m a defect!” Amethyst pointed to his horn and motioned around his head pointing out his lack of a mane. “My horn is backwards, I have no mane, and a messed up tail. The creators of the spawning process even had to go back and modify my DNA to get the rest of the changelings to come close to what they are now.”

“You are what you are brother,” Catalyst answered sternly.

“And what I am does not belong here; brother.” Amethyst replied just as stern.

Catalyst turned and headed for the door. “You hate me. I don’t blame you. What I tried to do was unforgivable even if it would have been better for the swarm as a whole.”

“Then make amends and help me out of here.” Amethyst begged one last time.

“I will see what I can do.” Catalyst assured. “However, unlawful abduction or not, you have still violated the highest rule of our race. That will not go unaccounted for.”

Amethyst turned away from this brother. “Even you loved her, a long time ago.”

“But unlike you, I realized my mistake.” Catalyst departed, closing the door behind him.

Warden returned. His lantern was hovering at his side; his cloak had been reformed, bones and all. Amethyst sighed. The silence and alone time allowed him to get his emotions back in check. Good thing too, Warden still had questions.

“Do you remember the highest law of our race Amethyst?” Warden asked as he walked in and stood next to the changeling.

“You shall seek love, yet you shall never succumb to it.” Amethyst spat out the line like an un-eager school pony reciting words from a book.

“Do you know why the law is in place?” Warden asked.

“So we don’t make the same mistake our queen made,” replied Amethyst, again spitting out the most generic answer to the question he could think of.

“Do you know the whole story behind our queen’s ‘mistake’?” Warden’s eyes narrowed to a stale glare, which caused Amethyst to tense up a bit.

“I only know what I’ve been told. Love caused the queen to make a fatal mistake which doomed the kingdom. The resulting devastation took such a toll on her heart that she became what she is today.”

“Then you do not know the full story.” Warden ceased the glare and took a few steps back, sitting down on a log that was being used as a makeshift couch. “This would explain your actions. If you knew the whole truth, you may not have acted the way you did.”

Amethyst gave Warden a puzzled look. “And I suppose you’re about to tell me the ‘whole truth’?”

“Only if you will listen and truly heed the words.”

Amethyst wasn’t entirely sure how to respond, so he only nodded.

“Then let’s begin.” Warden reached into his cloak and pulled out a book, which hovered in the air.

“Long ago, long before the founding of Canterlot and the rule of Princess Celestia and Luna, there lived a kingdom governed by a fair and merciful queen.”

“Our queen,” Amethyst pointed out.

“Do not interrupt.” Warden declared coldly.

“Sorry…continue.” Amethyst mumbled.

“The queen was known far and wide for her vast amount of love for her kingdom and all she ruled over. Even the homeless and the criminals were shown nothing but the deepest compassion and sympathy. The successor to the queen was a young colt, to whom many now refer to as Lord Catalyst. While the queen had an heir to the throne, she did not have a king. She wanted nothing more in life, then someone she could give her undying loyalty and love to. One day, the queen happened upon a traveling stallion. There was no clear way to explain it, but it was love at first sight. Our queen invited the stallion as an honored guest, and he stayed for many days at the castle as he and the queen got better acquainted. The queen was determined to have this colt as her king, but was scared the feelings weren’t mutual. The queen asked her adviser what she should do, and in response, the adviser had a love potion prepared. The potion worked and the two fell madly in love, but the potion worked too well. It backfired. The queen and king spent so much time looking into each others eyes that they could not perform their duties to the kingdom. The kingdom fell into chaos, and soon into ruin. When the queen was finally released from the potion’s grip, she looked out in horror at the disaster that struck her kingdom. Stricken with grief, she found her son and the few surviving members of her council. She decided that if love was the thing that took her kingdom and her subjects from her, then she would never love again. At this, the queen’s advisers cut out her heart and locked it away. The ritual forever changed the queen and her son. The queen craved loved to fill the void left by her missing heart, though without her heart, she would never love again. By her word and law, neither would her son, her advisers, nor any other subject of hers ever again. Thus Chrysalis and the Changelings were born.”

Amethyst shook himself out of the half trance he was in. It was all so unreal and almost impossible to completely take in, but one thing was certain.

“It wasn’t a love potion was it? It was love poison.”

Warden nodded. “The adviser must have fouled up the recipe when he was making it. Do you see now why love is so feared here? Love is an unstable emotion that can cause the brightest of people, to make the most grievous of errors.”

Warden’s tone was completely different. It wasn’t emotionless, it was…sad.

“May I ask a question now Warden?” Warden nodded.

“Where do you come in? What’s your stake in all of this?”

Warden looked into the glowing lantern, which was now dimly lighting the room they were in.

“I am the lantern barer. I am tasked with enforcing the first law, and protecting the greatest treasure of the changeling race.”

“You mean the lantern? What’s so special about it? Was it a possession of the queens when she was a pony?” Warden shrugged in response.

“Sort of,” Warden raised the lantern so that both he and Amethyst could get a good look at it. Amethyst stared deeply into the lantern, that’s when he noticed it. The thing that the green fire was coming from: Amethyst had assumed it was some
kind of coal or wood, but it was round and pulsing.

“The lantern isn’t the treasure at all, the treasure is what is inside it!” Amethyst gasped as his eyes widened.

To that Warden replied. “This lantern is not fueled by wood or coal, nor is it powered by magic of any kind. The glow from the lantern is the love emitting from a poisoned heart, and a lost soul.

At last Amethyst understood, “You are the keeper of Queen Chrysalis’s heart.”

Warden nodded, and lowered the lantern to his side. “It is time.” His voice returned to his normal lifeless tone, the tone of an immortal being, fatigued by years of service, with still many more to come.

“Time?” echoed Amethyst.

“Your sentence has been determined, for violation of the highest law, you are to be executed. Your life force will feed the lantern and sustain its glow.”

Amethyst sighed. There was no way around this for him. Love got him into this, and unless love got him out, his fate was sealed.

Amethyst stood before the council, the four remaining members of the queen’s old advisers. The ones that performed the ritual so long ago that doomed their race to their parasite life style. One of the advisers told Amethyst exactly what Warden told him; he was to be executed for violating the highest law. Amethyst noticed his brother was nowhere to be found. Perhaps he really wasn’t on his side after all.

“Do you have anything to say before your death, Prince Amethyst, EX-Lord of the Changelings?”

Amethyst nodded and began to speak. “I am not a prince. I never have been, I never will be. I am Lord Amethyst. I have experienced the joys of love, and I have not a single regret in the world!”

“Well said brother!” Everyone including Amethyst and Warden turned to the sight of Lord Catalyst, who walked up past his brother and stood before the council.

“What is the meaning of this young prince? Why do you stand there and not with us?”

Catalyst smirked. “I am no prince.” He then pointed to Amethyst, his younger brother. “And THIS is no criminal.” Catalyst marched forward before the council dropping several documents in front of them. “My brother, Lord Amethyst, has been a sleeper agent ever since he left the hive.”

Everyone in the area gasped, Warden and Amethyst included. Catalyst could not be serious, but the evidence was right there in front of the council.

“Catalyst when did you-” Amethyst was cut off by Warden.

“He didn’t,” Warden said sharply, “he’s trying to make amends.”

Catalyst continued to speak. “My brother has been serving us ever since he left. He has given us vital information about Ponyville, Canterlot, and a few other mentionable locations.These include weaknesses, exploitable guard routs and security measures. Is this the work of a traitor to his race?”

Amethyst had no memory of ever doing anything like this, could he really have been a sleeper agent for the queen? The thought just about terrified him.

The council finished looking over the documents and returned them to Lord Catalyst. “Be that as it may young…lord.”

Catalyst nodded in approval.

“Amethyst is not on trial for treason, he is on trial for breaking the highest law of our race.”

An angry glow filled Catalyst’s eyes, but it quickly departed, he knew it would come to this, and he knew what he had to do. The forged sleeper agent information was a last ditch effort to avoid the inevitable.

“Then I will take his place, as I am guilty of the same crime!”

Amethyst’s eyes widened and the council gasped at this remark.

“Are you insane Catalyst? What in the queen’s name do you think you’re doing?!”

Catalyst shoved Amethyst aside and stood before Warden.

“I am making amends.”

Catalyst glared at Warden and shouted, “DO IT!”

“NO!” begged Amethyst, but it was too late. The lantern glowed a bright green as it hovered closer and closer to Amethyst’s brother.

“Gypsy, I’m sorry.” These were the last words the changeling whispered to himself. When the song concluded, the bright green lights receded, and Lord Catalyst was no more.

Amethyst cried uncontrollably, the council members each lowered their heads grieving at the loss of Lord Catalyst. Warden approached Amethyst, putting his hoof on Amethyst’s shoulder.

“She has lost everything to love, her kingdom, her king, and now, her only heir”

Amethyst shook his head, “She didn’t lose to love. She lost to poor judgment.”

Warden contemplated what Amethyst had said, and to Amethyst’s surprise he nodded in agreement. Rising, he helped the changeling lord up as well, then hovered the lantern in front of Amethyst, presenting it to him.

“Then let me be the first of our race, to make good judgment. Take what I could not have, and do what no other changeling would ever be able to do.”

Amethyst stood up on his hind legs and took the lantern in his hooves. After only a brief pause he threw the lantern down with all his might. The lantern shattered and the queen’s heart vanished in a bright green glow. A female’s voice could be heard from the light. The voice was soft, kind, and loving.

“My love, you had such a lovely voice when you were a pony.”

Amethyst quickly turned to face Warden. “Did you say something?”

Warden shook his head, “You have returned Chrysalis’s heart to her. This could either be our salvation, or it could doom our entire race…again. Our future is currently unclear.”

“What will you do now that you don’t have your lantern?” Amethyst asked.

For the first time since Amethyst can remember, he saw Warden crack a small smile. “I will continue to do what I have always done, and that is guard the queen’s heart. This time however, I shall be at my queen’s side, where I belong.”
Amethyst nodded. He couldn’t tell why for sure but he felt that was where Warden was always meant to be, just as he was meant to always be by Lilly.