Warden heaved a long, heavy sigh, looking up towards the heavens and the spray of water cascading down from the heavy thunderclouds. It was morning, the sun was barely up, and he was standing in the rain, tending to his aurora vines.
With the onset of rain, Warden had to crawl out of bed and immediately run to the vines to make sure they weren’t getting soaked. They were a notoriously finicky plant to grow and harvest, and he was one of the very few left who could do it. Too much water and they would bloat and over-ripen, resulting in an entire failure of the crop. Too little water, and they would wither and die. It was a delicate balance, and every rainy season, Warden almost lived at the site, a necessity to keep the vines alive.
Kuno clicked her beak, raptorial head tilting to one side as her feathery wings twitched, sending off a spray of small droplets. Swarm was huddled up underneath one of the wings, half-dozing, annoyed at being awoken so early. She was still adjusting to having to wake up early enough for school. Kuno had opted for a griffonic form due to the beading effect of the oil in their feathers that allowed them to shrug off heavy rain without the moisture penetrating to the skin itself.
“Are you sure I can’t help?” Kuno asked, her tone garbled and with a peculiar accent due to the beak.
Warden gave a long-suffering sigh, shaking his head back at his wife. “Not unless you can tell by looking at the plants how much water they’ve already soaked up.”
“I can tell if they’re wet?” Kuno offered with a faint giggle.
Warden rolled his eyes at that, nudging one of the heavy fruits with his hoof to shake off some of the water, before erecting a small, homemade umbrella above it.
“Why can’t you just put the umbrella over the vine?” Kuno asked, mildly exasperated.
“Because aurora sucks and life hates me,” Warden responded bluntly, shaking his head slightly. “Two of the main plants they used to create aurora gained water both through leaves and through roots. The vine limits the amount of water delivered, and shouldn’t get too waterlogged, but if too much water falls on the fruits and the leaves themselves, they just absorb it. Kinda like if you eat nutmeg it’s all good, but if you inject it, you die.”
“I hate aurora,” Kuno said calmly, clicking her beak again and giving her feathers another quiver to get the beading water off them.
Warden chuckled at that, pursing his lips and placing another umbrella carefully over top of another fruit. “I hate it too, but it’s a job.”
Swarm cut him off then, by giving a faint whine and squirming against her mother’s side.
“You didn’t have to wake her up, you know,” Warden stated with a shake of his head.
“What, and let you come up here by yourself?” Kuno asked, arching a brow.
Warden paused then, giving her a long stare. “I’m a big boy now, Kuno. I don’t need help.”
Kuno gave him a long stare in response, head tilting slightly to the left. “And last time I let you come up here alone, I had to rescue you from that ditch,” she said, jerking a talon over her shoulder.
Warden flushed at that, looking away and mumbling something.
“No, I won’t ever let you live that down,” Kuno said sweetly, smiling at him and batting her eyes.
“That doesn’t work when you’re a griffon, Kuno. It looks more like you want to eat me,” Warden pointed out, as he frowned at one of the fruits and sighed, before twisting it off the vine and throwing it towards the centre of the ravine. It landed in a stream of water that was on its way out of the ravine and quickly disappeared.
“Those aren’t dangerous just lying around like that?” Kuno asked, slightly worried.
“If you ate it? Sure. But it’s bright orange,” he said with a faint shrug. “Anything stupid enough to eat it... well, it was just its time to move on from this world.”
“And if our daughter should happen to pick one of them up and eat them?” Kuno asked flatly, her eyes narrowing.
“Then she’d die,” Warden said grimly. “Quite painfully, I’d imagine.”
“You don’t have a problem with that?” Kuno growled, her hackles rising.
Warden laughed faintly and shook his head. “Kuno, Swarm hasn’t been putting random things in her mouth ever since I spilled those jalapenos that one time.”
Kuno huffed faintly at that, rubbing her beak with a paw. “I still worry.”
“I know, because you’re a mother. It’s my job to be utterly flippant and subject our child to reasonable danger to counterbalance your anal retentive tendencies,” Warden said with a grin.
“I don’t know if you’re making a jab at my motherly instincts or trying again to -”
Warden held up a hoof, cutting her off with a frown. “Not in front of the kid.”
Kuno giggled faintly, tilting her head to one side with the most innocently of expressions on her griffonic face. “You realise that she’s half-changeling, right? She’ll learn about sex and the like far, far earlier than the other students. And she’ll want to partake in it just as early.”
Warden’s expression darkened at that, and he shook his head slowly. “Not in my house, she won’t.”
“Why are ponies so stuck up?” Kuno asked with a shake of her head. “It’s a natural part of growing up as a changeling.”
“But completely wrong when growing up as a pony!” Warden countered with a low growl. “I don’t believe you can speak of it so... flippantly. That’s our daughter!”
Kuno raised a brow at that. “I know she’s our daughter. And I want what’s best for her.”
“How could that possibly be what’s best for her?” Warden asked, turning to stare at her, ignoring the rain dripping across his muzzle.
“You’re looking at things from the point of view of a pony, again,” Kuno said with a shake of her head.
“Then explain it to me,” Warden said bluntly, sitting down on his rump with a wet splat and staring at her with narrowed eyes.
“Well, a changeling learns about sex very early because it’s the easiest way to get love,” Kuno said with the slightest shrug of her shoulders. “It’s simple survival.”
“And you think that our daughter is going to be going around seducing the males of the school for love?” Warden asked flatly.
Kuno looked away at that, clicking her beak, her cheeks flushing just faintly. “W-well, when you put it that way...”
“No, Kuno. There is no ‘way’. She’s going to grow up as a pony. She doesn’t need to grow up as a changeling, whoring herself out for love.” Warden snorted, pursing his lips and pawing at the ground with his good hoof.
Kuno’s griffonic ears splayed back at that, and she clenched her beak, refusing to look at her husband. “I have to take Swarm to school.”
“Oh, you are not going to just wriggle your way out of-”
A faint whimper cut him off, and Swarm’s nose wiggled out from under the warm wing, followed by the head of a sleepy foal. “‘R you and daddy fighting?” she asked wearily.
“No honey,” Kuno said soothingly, tightening her wing around the foal slightly, turning away from Warden. “C’mon, we gotta get you to the school carriage.”
Warden frowned at that, his ears splaying back. “Kuno, wait.”
Kuno looked back over her shoulder for a long moment, before turning away. “Don’t fall in a ditch, Warden.”
Warden sighed, his head lowering slightly as he watched his wife walk away.
A tired, wet foal crawled up into the carriage, wiping her hooves off with an expression of distaste. She picked a seat in the corner of the carriage again, and crawled into it, curling up on the chilly seat and resting her nose on the window, watching the fog expand and contract across it in time with her breathing.
There were mutters around her about ‘griffons’, but Swarm ignored it, closing her eyes and settling her face against the cold window with a soft sigh. The carriage jolted as it started away from the house, and Swarm blinked an eye open to wave at her mother as the house began to recede into the distance.
It was drizzling heavily in Canterlot as the carriage pulled up in front of the school. Swarm was the last one out, dropping down onto the muddy ground and staggering towards the front door of the school. The foals were all instructed to wipe off their hooves before they would be let inside, given the use of several towels to clean themselves off.
Swarm was the last in line to this too, meekly rubbing her hooves down with an old raggedy towel, and then standing in line with the rest of the foals.
The classroom from the previous day had been transformed, and was now littered with easels and bright, primary-coloured paints in small jars.
“Two to a easle, class!” Sparkling Acumen, the teacher called, waving a hoof for attention. “Pick a partner, everypony!”
There was a rustle of movement as the foals all tried to pick a single partner, and the hubbub of conversation as they argued as to who would be with who.
Swarm quietly stayed at the back of the class, intending to get an easel when everyone else had chosen.
But it seemed that the teacher had thought it out better than Swarm had, and there was a pair of children per easel, with no spare for Swarm to take. Swarm frowned, looking from the paint, to the easels, and then quietly sitting down on her rump at the back of the room.
It was only a minute or two before the teacher noticed, and she made her way to the back of the room, quietly asking, “Why aren’t you at your easel?”
Swarm’s ears pinned back, and she nervously brushed a lock of her mane out of her face. “O-oh, I’m fine, Miss Acumen.”
“No, come, there is an easel up front you can use,” Shining Acumen retorted, turning neatly on her hooves and striding towards the front of the room.
The conversation had been quiet, but Swarm could feel the eyes of nearly everypony in the room burning into her back as she walked meekly towards the front of the class, following Shining Acumen.
Swarm’s heart fell as she saw that the easel was occupied.
A young unicorn was at the easel, already having started to draw a large house with a long driveway on one half of the paper. His name, Wrought Iron, was already written across the top of his half of the page in neat letters.
Swarm stared up at the picture, eyes widening. “You can already write your name?”
The unicorn turned to stare at her, a look of disdain crossing his features. “I’m just that good,” he said with a wave of his hoof, sending a splat of black dots across the clean half of the page.
Shining Acumen nodded towards the easel, “You can use the other half.”
Swarm wrinkled her nose slightly, before she nervously approached the easel, picking up a brush.
Warden limped through the front door of the house with the merest of whimpers, grimacing and shaking himself off as best he could. His entire left side was caked with mud, leaves, and twigs from a tumble down a slope, and his hoof was refusing to take any weight at all now.
Kuno looked up from her magazine, in her true changeling form, and sniffed once. “You need a bath,” she said bluntly.
Warden nodded, pursing his lips and stepping sideways into the bathroom. He leant over the tub heavily and flicked on the hot water, before just bodily flopping into the water without hesitation. Almost instantly, the water turned a murky brown. Wrinkling his nose in distaste, he wiggled around to free up some of the mud from his wing and side, before he put the plug in the drain and let the tub start filling.
“Did you roll in it?” Kuno asked from the doorway, snorting once.
Warden raised an ear slowly, and then shrugged. “Only a little.”
“You’re a mess,” Kuno accused, stepping over to the side of the tub.
“That tends to happen,” Warden responded calmly, wincing as he reached for the soap.
Kuno snatched it up before he could get to it, sighing and shaking her head. “I’m looking after two foals,” she stated flatly, as she crawled into the bath behind him and began to clean his wing.
Warden leaned forwards as far as he could, extending his bad wing gingerly and biting his tongue as Kuno began to clean it.
“We’re not going to talk about what happened earlier?” Warden asked.
“We had a fight, the end.” Kuno scrubbed a little bit harder, and Warden cried out. “Sorry,” Kuno mumbled, making her strokes gentler.
Warden winced, resting his good hoof on the edge of the tub and gritting his teeth slightly, before peering back at her. “But you were wrong. I have to press my advantage.”
“Yes, I was wrong, can you just drop it?!” Kuno snapped, huffing and crossing her hooves in front of herself, looking away.
Warden frowned deeply at that, turning around to face her, lifting a hoof to touch at her cheek.
Kuno frowned deeply, pushing it away and growling softly.
“What is the matter with you?” Warden asked, mystified.
Kuno huffed, not answering for several long seconds, before she deflated completely, burying her face in her hooves. “I feel so... so... just useless.”
Warden blinked one, confused, shifting closer to the changeling and lifting her chin with a hoof. He was surprised to find a trail of tears wending their way down her cheeks. Kuno never cried.
“What do you mean, Kuno?” Warden asked, frowning deeply.
Kuno sniffled slightly, jerking away from him and looking away, her ears pinned back. “I can’t even raise my own daughter.”
Warden shook his head at that, still completely confused. “What... what do you even mean?”
“Everything I try to teach her is wrong!” Kuno protested, waving a hoof wildly. “Every little thing I teach her is just wrong!”
Giving an exasperated sigh, Warden shook his head again. “The things you’re trying to teach her don’t work for a pony.”
“And that’s the problem,” Kuno stated flatly, turning to regard him with an eerily quiet stare. “She’s a pony. You’re a pony. It’s become evident that you and her would be better with another pony, and not some stupid changeling teaching her things that she doesn‘t need to know.”
Warden was aghast at that, shaking his head firmly. “No, Kuno, no. Don’t even start with that.”
“I’ve already started,” Kuno responded flatly. “I’m doing more harm than good. I don’t know how to raise a pony. I know how to raise a changeling.”
“That’s what I’m here for,” Warden said firmly, pressing closer and wrapping his hooves around the changeling tightly. “I’m here to tell you when you’re screwing up and teaching her some really terrible things for integration into pony society.”
“S-so you’re just here to tell me that I’m wrong all the time?” Kuno asked, her bottom lip quivering, limp in the hug.
Warden frowned, and then nodded gently, kissing her nose. “Yes, Kuno. I’m here to tell you that you’re wrong all the time, because you are wrong all the time. That’s just... a fact. I can’t sugar-coat it.”
Kuno’s ears splayed back at that, and she nodded slowly. “I... I guess you’re right...”
“Am I winning this argument?” Warden asked, his tone amazed.
“You were practical,” Kuno said, rubbing at her cheek with a hoof. “And changelings are practical.”
Warden nodded gently, kissing her cheek soothingly. “I don’t want to... hurt you. But I can’t just pretend like it’s okay for you to teach our daughter that seducing random colts is a good idea.”
“I... I know,” Kuno admitted, frowning deeply to herself. “But I feel so... lost... even if you’re right and I’m just being stupid, I still don’t... I don’t like being wrong all the time. I don’t like not being good at being a mother.”
“You’re an amazing mother,” Warden soothed, squeezing the changeling tightly. “You just need someone to tell you the difference between ponies and changelings so you don’t screw up.”
Kuno nodded gently, biting her bottom lip and staring at him for a long moment, tears building in her eyes again. “W-Warden... I appreciate what you’re doing... and t-that she’s your daughter as well... but... can you just...” she trailed off again, looking away and biting her lip harder.
Warden nudged her gently, soothingly squeezing at her wings. “Yes? Anything.”
Kuno lowered her ears, and snorted faintly, wiping her eyes with a hoof. “C-can you just not be so... s-so mean about it?”
Warden blinked slowly at that, completely mystified again. “Mean?”
“Mean,” Kuno repeated quietly. “I can... I can handle being wrong. I’ll admit that I was wrong. It’s a stupid thing to teach to a foal. I should have realised. But... when you talk to me like that...it hurts...”
Warden frowned deeply, wrapping his hooves around the changeling tightly and holding her close. “I’m sorry, Kuno... I didn’t realise.”
Kuno gave a weak laugh at that. “I don’t like you to see me being all stupid and weak...”
Warden nodded, soothingly rubbing his good hoof against one of her wings. “I’ll try to be less mean.”
“And I’ll try to be less of a screw up,” Kuno said firmly, wiping her eyes with a hoof again.
“You’re not a screw up,” Warden murmured, kissing her nose gently. “You’re just... different. And I have to let you know when you’re being too different.”
Kuno nodded in response, resting her nose against his shoulder. “Just... give me some time, yeah? I’m still trying to figure all this mother stuff out.”
Warden nodded, squeezing the changeling tightly. “But don’t you ever dare say we’d be better off with a pony, ever again.”
Kuno raised a brow slowly at him, a silly smile spreading across her features. “Or else what, hmm? Are you threatening me?”
“Not threatening, promising,” Warden said with a firm nod. “Very fine legal difference.”
Kuno wrapped her hooves around his neck and kissed his neck gently. “Oh you know how all the lawyer talk gets me all riled up.”
“I’m gonna take my tax return and juxtapose a restructuring loan right on top of your inbox,” Warden whispered into her ear heatedly.
Kuno giggled faintly and kissed his nose gently. “I love you, you goof.”
Warden smiled down at his wife, squeezing her tightly with his good hoof. “And I love you too. Don’t you ever think that anything else matters more than that.”
Kuno frowned just slightly at that, and then hugged him firmly. “Just... remind me sometimes?”
“I promise,” Warden said, giving her a gentle kiss.