Warden panted heavily as he scooped another shovel full of dirt out of the hole, throwing it over his shoulder haphazardly. Sweat drenched his form under his armor, making it a sticky, hot, unpleasant mess. His eyes stung from the sweat drips falling under his helmet, and his hoof ached worse than he’d ever felt it. But something compelled him to keep digging, to keep scraping and pawing at the top of the coffin he had unearthed.
With a mighty heave, Warden threw out another large pile of dirt, panting hard for several long seconds, before quickly pawing at the dirt around the top half of the coffin. The old oak was still dull and tarnished, even after so many years of being buried. But now, finally, he had managed to unearth enough of the coffin to reveal the entire top hatch. It could be opened.
Warden took a deep, steadying breath, reaching a shaking hoof for the edge of the coffin, and then heaving it upwards, opening the casket.
An absolutely terrible smell assaulted him, and he retched. Dirt fell into the coffin, displaced by the opening of the casket.
Warden stared down into the casket, feeling bile rising in his throat and the blood pounding in his ears. The skeletal face of his ex-wife was visible, no more than a leering skull with patches of stretched skin clinging to the bones.
Scrabbling out of the grave, almost tripping on the spear he had brought with him, Warden staggered several steps away, ripped off his helmet, and then vomited violently across the grass.
Weak-limbed and shaky, he sidestepped a few paces and then collapsed onto the ground, taking deep breaths, trying to control the sudden shaking of his body.
His mind felt clearer than it did before.
That wasn’t Swarm. Swarm was dead. Dead and buried. A skeleton in a coffin. And the Swarm in the ravine had been a changeling. And he had been under it’s spell.
“Tch, I told you to come back to me,” a honey-sweet voice said.
Warden looked up sharply, eyes narrowing at fake-Swarm.
“W-who are you?” he managed to rasp out.
“I’m your savior,” Swarm said with a smirk, stepping closer to him, her horn glowing. A tendril of green magic snaked towards Warden.
Warden stepped backwards, a wing lifting to shield himself. A series of metallic clicks were barely audible as the wing-underlay stretched under the movements of his wing.
The tendril of green magic hit his wing and then dissolved, while an amber half-sphere was visible around Warden for a split-second.
“W-what?!” Swarm spluttered.
“Magic deterrent,” Warden said grimly, unflexing his wing. “Standard attire for any pegasus guard.”
Swarm’s eyes narrowed slowly, and a low growl bubbled up out of her throat. “Fine! I was going to let you live. I was going to keep you happy just so that I could destroy Kuno with the knowledge that I owned you and she had no claim over you. But now I think I’ll just deliver your head to her on a spike!”
A flash of green consumed fake-Swarm, and when it faded, Chrysalis was standing in her place, lips pulled back in a snarl of rage, green eyes flashing angrily.
Warden took a step backwards, swallowing thickly. His hindhoof came down on his spear, and he quickly snatched it up, readying it.
Chrysalis took a step forwards, lowering her head to send a blast of green at him.
Sidestepping quickly, Warden brought up his wing again, shielding himself. His teeth bared in pain as the feathers along his wings were scorched with the raw magical power, the smell of the burning pinions filling the air, acrid and overpowering. But the magical shield held. The red gems inlaid in the underside of the wing-brace glowed a vibrant fiery red, glowing with all the magic they were absorbing, threatening to burn out.
“Why are you doing this?!” Warden asked, swapping to his other wing, deflecting another magical blast. The gems on the other wing brace started to glow just as brightly.
“Why do you think, idiot?!” Chrysalis shrieked, bounding forwards and slashing at him with her horn.
Warden was a little too slow to dodge, and a lance of pain ripped through him as the horn cut open his wing, scoring almost down to the bone. He snarled in pain, stepping backwards and giving a clumsy strike with the spear. The blow had no conviction behind it though, glancing off of Chrysalis’ tough chitin, barely marring its surface.
“Five years I was locked in that dungeon!” Chrysalis snarled, rounding on him and firing another blast from her horn. The gems on the wing-brace glowed so bright they cast Warden in red light before they shattered one-by-one in a cascade failure, sending razor-sharp shards of superheated magical gems spraying across Warden’s sides, sizzling against his fur.
As the last gem was overloaded and broke, the full magical force hit Warden, sending him ploughing into the ground like a giant fist had struck him. he bounced wildly across the grass, spear clattering from his grasp as he tumbled.
Warden was momentarily unconscious, but only for a second. His eyes fluttered open in time for him to lift his left wing and attempt to ward off another magical blast from the angry Queen. This one was more directed, and another spray of hot, overloaded gemstones assaulted him, burning his other side. He snarled in pain, teeth baring as he rose to his hooves again and staggered towards his spear.
Chrysalis snarled, charging him bodily, head lowered to gore him.
Twisted, Warden managed to deflect the blow, causing her horn to glance off his chest armor, leaving a long line in the armor, before her full weight caught across his chest, lifting him off his feet.
Chrysalis twisted, using her superior size to slam Warden into the ground, smashing the pegasus down on his back.
Warden wheezed helplessly, gasping for air, completely winded by the violence of the slam.
Snarling in triumph, Chrysalis straddled his form, a powerful forehoof grasping his own good hoof and pinning it to the ground.
Warden struggled as he realised his peril too late, even as the Queen sat on his stomach, pinning him in place. His bad hoof pushed up at her chest, trying to push her away, weakly scrabbling at her chitin.
“Poor, poor Warden, the broken pegasus. You picked a fight you can’t win,” Chrysalis cooed, lifting her free hoof and rather idly pushing it against his throat.
Warden’s eyes widened as a firm pressure was pushed against his throat, slowly growing in force, immediately cutting off his air supply. He gasped and struggled, spluttering, eyes bulging.
“Give in, Warden,” Chrysalis cooed, grinning down at him, malice in her eyes. “Die like a good little weakling.” She leaned in closer, to whisper into his ear softly, “When I’m done with you, I’m going to kill your wife. And then I’m going to turn your little hybrid bitch. She’ll be the most evil Princess Equestria has ever seen…”
Warden struggled weakly, darkness gathering at the edges of his vision. He had only seconds before he passed out.
“Give up, little foal!” Chrysalis snarled, putting even more weight on his throat, grinning in wild triumph as Warden struggled helplessly beneath her.
“Warden!”
“Daddy!”
Warden heard Kuno’s voice, and Swarm’s, as though from very far away. He wasn’t even certain that it was real and not just some figment of his imagination.
A pair of magical blasts smashed into the ground nearby, and both Warden and Chrysalis were sent tumbling.
The world rolled crazily around him, and Warden threw out a hoof to try and catch purchase, ending up sprawled across the grass, coughing and hacking violently as he tried to catch his breath. Blood and oxygen flooded his brain again, dazing him.
A figure reached his side, and he tried weakly to push her away, flailing ineffectually.
“Warden, it’s me!” Kuno stressed, slapping at his face with her hoof hurriedly. “Warden! Snap out of it!”
“K-Kuno?!” Warden gasped raggedly, throwing his hooves around her and pulling her close. “I-I’m so sorry! It’s Chrysalis! She’s here!”
“I know, we hav—”
Kuno was cut off by a ringing blow from the side, sending her sprawling backwards, a trail of blue blood spilling from her mouth. Chrysalis quickly reversed her hoof, smashing warden in the face, sending the pegasus likewise reeling backwards, dropping onto his back clumsily, staring up at the sky.
“Aww, how sweet, now I can take care of you both!” Chrysalis snarled, her horn lifting, glowing with a vibrant, terrifying green light. She looked back and forth between them, lips curling into a slow smirk. “Now, who f—”
Chrysalis trailed off into a snarl of pain as a small black shape smashed into her back, staggering her just slightly. But the tiny jaws sinking into the base of her wing were far more damaging.
Swarm, the half-pony, half-changeling hybrid, was almost unrecognizable. The soft fur and sleek mane and tail that usually comprised her form were gone. In it’s place was a snarling, hissing, creature covered in black chitin and with a mouth full of razor-sharp fangs. Glowing green eyes, like her mothers in everything except colour, narrowed down at her target as she sank her fangs into the base of the wing, tearing through muscle and touch chitin alike.
Chrysalis snarled and tried to scrabble the little hybrid off, flailing a hoof back at her and bucking her hindlegs in pain. She managed to grasp around one of Swarm’s hindlegs, and tugged her away, throwing her clear. But the damage was already done. Blue ichor dripped down her side, staining her smooth black chitin. The wing on that side hung limp, drooping to the ground, with a slick of blue slowly drooling down the underside.
A spearpoint touched at Chrysalis’ nose, and she jerked backwards, becoming aware of Warden and Kuno again. Warden had reclaimed his spear, and was holding it against her nose, while Kuno was picking her daughter up, gingerly brushing her off.
Chrysalis gave a low, soft laugh. “You think… you think that you can beat me?”
“We could kill you,” Kuno stated matter-of-factly.
“I could do it myself!” Swarm squeaked, spitting out a glob of Chrysalis’ blue blood.
“We could,” Warden said flatly. “I might do it just out of spite after what you tried to do.”
“Well, well, the weakling has a spine after all,” Chrysalis cooed, lifting a hoof to grasp the end of the spear, holding it rock-steady as her horn started to glow.
Kuno beat her to the punch though, sending a staggeringly powerful bolt of green magic directly into the Queen’s chest.
Chrysalis reeled backward, staggering for a moment, wrong-footed at the strength of the blow. She held her chest, wheezing softly, a crack in her chitin allowing a trickle of blue blood to escape. “Bitch!” she snarled, stamping a hoof against the ground, “I’ll kill you for that!”
Chrysalis’ horn glowed again, and her eyes seemed to glow with a manic fury.
Kuno send another bolt of magic at her, but the Changeling Queen just deflected it with a quick flick of her hoof, sending it smashing into the apple tree. The tree splintered in the centre, and the air filled the cracking sound of broken wood as the tree slowly keeled over, crashing to the ground.
Moving to unleash another blast of magic, Kuno was cut off by Chrysalis flicking her head and sending her own blast into the ground at their feet.
A massive surge of energy unleashed from the spot where the magic hit, sending a blinding flash of light radiating outwards and pushing all four of them away from the spot of impact with its force. Dazzled by the blinding light, neither Warden nor Kuno were prepared for the sudden vicious blows that Chrysalis unleashed on them.
Warden’s head was instantly ringing from a series of three hits across his helm, and Kuno reeled backwards as she took two firm hoof-smashed to her cheek and nose.
Swarm leaped at Chrysalis, intending to finish what she began with the Queen’s wing, but Chrysalis swatted her aside deftly, smashing the hybrid foal into the ground ruthlessly.
“Swarm, no!” Kuno cried, snarling in anger as she rose to her hooves and charged the queen.
Chrysalis just smirked, catching Kuno’s horn in one of the holes in her hoof, twisting viciously and spinning Kuno right off her feet.
Kuno was airborne for several long moments, before she crashed headlong into the ground, stunned and dazed.
“C’mon, how do you three expect to beat me?” Chrysalis asked with a smirk, rounding on Warden, the last standing member of the family. “The poor broken pegasus, last line of defense.”
Warden sniffed, and then swallowed, tasting blood. He hefted his spear, testing the familiar weight. Chrysalis was standing several feet away, seemingly out of reach. Seemingly.
Frowning, Warden reversed the spear, holding it point-down.
“Interesting… planning on bludgeoning me to death?” Chrysalis asked, a sneer in her tone.
“Something like that,” Warden said, taking a single step forwards.
Chrysalis didn’t even move, tilting her head forward, horn beginning to glow. “Bring it.”
Warden’s eyes narrowed under his helmet, and he quickly brought the spear forwards, and then threw it over his own back. His wings lifted just far enough to catch the spear, giving it a surface to rotate on. He caught the very end of the spear in his right hoof, his bad hoof, and let the inertia of the spear’s motion carry it back over the opposite shoulder. Only now, he was holding it at the very, very end.
With a quick flick of hoof, Warden sent the point of the speer careening for Chrysalis’ head.
Chrysalis was momentarily stunned by the move, not expecting such a huge range to be crossed by the spear. However, she was in time to duck, bringing her head out of the line of the spear tip.
Her horn, however, was not.
The tip of the speer, still sharp after all those years, sitting in the closet, scythed through the first half-inch of Chrysalis’ horn, before the cutting action stopped and the sheer weight behind the blow finish the job. Chrysalis’ horn was immediately sheared off, right in the first ‘arch’ of it, sending several inches of broken horn spinning to the ground, where it landed, point-down, in the grass.
Chrysalis snarled in pain and surprise, her hooves flying up to her head as she screeched in absolute agony. Blue spurts of blood pumped from the broken horn, spilling down over her face, dripping from her chin slowly. She spread her forelimbs, lowering her head and breathing heavily, her entire form rocking back and forth with the intensity of her breathing. Her mouth gaped as she tried to catch her breath, errant sparks of magic spilling from her broken horn.
“I… you… it…” Chrysalis stammered, her eyes clouding as she starting to collapse, her entire form twitching as she lost strength in her forelimbs and fell flat on her chest.
Warden dropped the spear from his bad hoof, wincing in pain as he hobbled over to it and picked it up in his good hoof, holding it aloft and then leaning in to push it against Chrysalis’ throat.
Chrysalis stared up at him, teeth baring in pain and defiance. “Do it!” she snarled.
“Do it,” Kuno said quietly from behind him, spitting out a stream of her own blood. “Kill her.”
Warden put his weight behind the spear, preparing to plunge it into Chrysalis’ chest.
“Do it!” a third voice said.
Warden froze, his ears splaying back. He looked back over his shoulder, to see Swarm, dirtied and bloodied, watching with a vicious expression on her little hybrid face. Her eyes were glowing that vibrant green in her new, half-changeling, half-pony form. She looked positively demonic. She looked almost evil.
Warden frowned, staring down at the Queen for several long moments, before shaking his head slowly and turning away. “No. No. She’s defeated. Killing a defeated prisoner is the act of a tyrant.”
“It’s an act of protection,” Kuno said quietly, eyes narrowing. “You’re protecting your family. She tried to kill us, Warden. She tried to take you from me.”
“And she failed!” Warden protested, waving a hoof firmly. “Do you remember how I found you? It was my mercy for you that led to us being together.”
“She’s not me,” Kuno strained, shaking her head firmly. “She is a tyrant!”
Warden growled, leaning over to whisper heatedly into his wife’s ear, “Look at what it’s doing to Swarm!”
Kuno’s eyes wandered to her daughter, the little hybrid, clamouring for the blood of a defeated foe, and her gaze softened. “I… you’re right…” she whispered, deflating, sitting down on her rump and staring at her forehooves. “Swarm, come here.”
Swarm gave a petulant huff, looking back and forth between the defeated queen, face drenched in blood, and her parents, standing together. Lowering her head, she stepped over closer, frowning deeply.
Kuno gathered up her daughter, brushing her off with a firm pat of her hoof. “Look at you. You’re all… changeling!”
“I got angry…” Swarm said quietly, wrinkling her nose deeply as she shivered. There was no flash of flame, but her entire form seemed to quiver and melt, leaving her as the grey-and-blonde filly that she had always been. “Why aren’t we killing her?” she asked plaintively.
“Because killing is wrong,” Kuno said, though it sounded like she didn’t even believe the words herself. “Even if… even if the person is truly evil, then killing someone when they are defenseless makes you evil.”
“I don’t understand,” Swarm said plaintively. “Let’s just kill her!”
“You’ll understand, some day,” Kuno said, biting her bottom lip.
“Fools!” Chrysalis snarled, launching herself from her prone position.
Warden turned, putting himself between Chrysalis and his family, defending them. There was some kind of blow against his side, and he staggered a step, feeling an icy spike of pressure pushing at his chest. His breath caught in his throat, and he frowned.
Kuno screamed.
Swarm screamed.
Warden frowned thoughtfully, staring down at his chest, eyes widening as he caught sight of a few inches of black chitin protruding from his chest, inserted past the hole in his armor where his leg fit. A small trickle of red blood was slowly spilling from the underside of it, making a mess of his white fur.
Frowning, Warden sat down on his rump, blinking down at what he realised was Chrysalis’ detached horn, embedded in his chest. The blood was starting to make a mess of his armor. Shining Armor would yell at him if he got the armor all dirty.
Warden swayed, and then collapsed.
Kuno’s eyes narrowed slowly, and lightning seemed to flash behind them. “S-Swarm,” she said, trying to keep her voice level. “Hold her.”
Swarm’s gaze hardened, and she nodded, her horn glowing with a vibrant green light. A pair of magical shackles seemed to materialise around Chrysalis’ forelimbs and neck, holding her in place. The queen struggled, but was held fast.
Kuno advanced on the queen, her chest heaving with suppressed rage, hooves grinding into the ground, her wings buzzing angrily. “You…”
“I am your Queen!” Chrysalis shrieked. “You will obey me!”
Growling, Kuno drew one of her hooves back. Green flames danced along the length of it as the limb lengthened and stretched, forming into a long, jagged spike of black chitin, even as Kuno lifted her free hoof to rest on Chrysalis’ shoulder. “A minute ago, you were telling us to kill you…” she said quietly.
Chrysalis’ eyes widened, and she spluttered, trying to escape, struggling to squirm backwards.
Kuno tightened her grip on the queen’s shoulder, and then shoved the lance of her right hoof into her chest.
Chrysalis stiffened as the pointed spire of chitin pierced her already weakened chest, scraping against her breastbone and deflecting past it, digging deep into her. Immediately she coughed up a gout of blue blood.
Kuno snarled, dragging the point out and then shoving it back in with all the force she could muster, sinking the pointed through the Queen’s breastbone, and directly into her heart.
Chrysalis stiffened, eyes wide, mouth in a silent ‘O’ of surprise, before she slowly collapsed onto her side, her eyes going lifeless and blank.
Kuno pulled the spire of chitin from Chrysalis’ chest with a very disgusting sound, before she shook her hoof, a flash of green magic removing the blue-slicked chitin spear. She turned, galloping towards Warden’s prone form.
Swarm growled, lifting the Queen’s prone form, and then sending her careening through the broken apple-tree in a spray of wood chips.
Warden’s eyes were already starting to glass over, and his breathing was extremely shallow. A single trickle of bright red blood was spilling from the corner of his mouth.
Kuno was already starting to sob as she surveyed the damage. “W-Warden! Stay with me! Warden!”
“M’here…” Warden managed to whisper, through he didn’t lift his head. “Cold.”
“Warden, Warden!” Kuno almost screeched, “Stay awake!”
“M’awake…” Warden muttered, his brows furrowing deeply. “Hurts…”
“I know it hurts, hun, I know,” Kuno said, gathering him up into her hooves and rocking him back and forth slowly, tugging off his head to kiss soothingly at his forehead and face. “I’m here. It’s okay. It’s going to be okay.”
“Kuno…” Warden murmured, pawing weakly at her with a hoof.
“I’m here, I’m here,” Kuno assured, trying to stop her tears from splashing down over his face.
“Y’know I love you, right?” Warden asked worriedly, brow furrowing slowly.
“I know, I know,” Kuno assured, rocking him back and forth some more, laying her cheek on his own and rubbing against him anxiously. “I just… I just… I just broke down when I felt that you didn’t love me any more. I knew it was just a spell! I knew!” Kuno blubbered. “I knew that it was just a spell but it just… it hurt so much that you didn’t love me any more…”
“But I do love you,” Warden assured, trying to lift his head to nuzzle against her in reassurance.
“Hold on, Warden!” Kuno screeched, rocking him back and forth all the more intently. “T-the royal guard will be here soon! They can help!”
“No… they can’t…” Warden muttered weakly. “She’s killed me. The stupid bitch killed me…”
“No! No!” Kuno protested, shaking her head, sending tears scattering everywhere. “You’re not dying! You can’t leave me alone like this!”
“Everypony dies,” Warden said, heaving a soft sigh, and the coughing faintly. “Don’t cry, Kuno. I love you…”
“I know, I know!” Kuno wailed, squeezing him even tighter with her hooves, rocking back and forth. “I know you love me!”
“No… I really really love you…” Warden protested, pushing at her weakly with his hooves. “More than just love… I super love you…”
“I know,” Kuno blubbered, sobbing brokenly as she squeezed him against her chest. “I love you too, Warden… I can’t live without you. Don’t go, Warden. Don’t go…”
Warden shook his head, giving a pained expression. “Everypony goes sometime… but you… you made my life greater… Made it bright and happy… don’t cry, Kuno. I don’t like it when you’re sad,” he murmured, a teardrop spilling down his cheek. “Smile for me, Kuno. Tell me that you love me… please…”
Kuno sobbed all the harder, shaking her head rapidly. “No, no, no! Warden, you can’t die!” she wailed, slapping his face with a hoof. “Y-you can’t!”
Warden’s form relaxed imperceptibly, and he gave a slow exhale.
“W-Warden?” Kuno said quietly. “Warden?... Warden? Warden! Wake up!” she cried, sobbing as she rocked his form back and forth. “W-wake up! I love you! You have to let me tell you that I love you!”
Kuno bit her tongue so hard that she tasted blood as she laid her head on his chest. She could hear his heartbeat, ragged and slow, thumping against his chest.
It beat once.
Twice.
And then it went still.
Kuno stiffened, her eyes widening, bottom lip quivering as she shook Warden slightly, as though his heart might start beating again with the motion. “W-Warden…” Kuno whispered brokenly. “Warden… I love you… You can’t go…”
Warden remained limp and unmoving.
“Wake him up!” Swarm yelled from next to her. “Wake daddy up!”
Kuno turned to look at he daughter, tears streaming down her cheeks as she shook her head, pulling her daughter close. “I-I can’t honey… he’s gone.”
“Wake daddy up!” Swarm screeched, stamping and flailing her hooves as she started to cry. “Wake him up!”
Kuno turned away, tears splashing down across the grass rapidly as she tried her best not to just throw herself on the ground and wail in pain.
“Wake him up! Heal him!” Swarm screeched, clawing at her mother hysterically. “Wake him up!”
“I… I…” Kuno stared at Warden’s prone form, her ears splaying back. A shaking hoof lifted, to rest over the horn embedded in his side. She bit her bottom lip, and then grasped around it.
The end of the horn was slippery with mingled blood, and it took Kuno four tries to get a good enough grasp over it to tug it free. It slid out, catching on the flesh in the ragged, ghastly hole it had created.
Kuno tossed the horn aside, rising to shaking hooves, leaning over to touch Warden’s side with her horn. “S-swarm, honey… Give me your power…”
“I don’t kn-know how!” Swarm cried, shaking her head.
“J-just… touch your horn to mine…” Kuno murmured, as her horn started to glow.
“A-are you going to fix daddy?” Swarm asked, stepping closer to do as told, laying her horn against her mother’s. Their tears mingled, shining bright on Warden’s marred armor.
“I’m going to try…” Kuno whispered.
Kuno’s horn lit up, and she focused on healing him, closing her eyes against the sudden blinding light she was producing.
Five years of love energy started to pour into Warden’s form. Sheer magical energy focused on healing him.
His flesh knitted together, shards of crystal embedded in his sides popped free and the flesh cinched up behind it, leaving tiny scars behind. The ghastly, ragged hole in his side started to slowly close, healing right in front of them.
“I-It’s working!” Kuno gasped out, sounding surprised. She started to falter though, her magic starting to fizzle and her vision darkening.
“H-help me, Swarm…” Kuno muttered, her legs growing weak.
“I-I’m helping...” Swarm protested, brows furrowing deeply as she slowly collapsed onto the ground and passed out.
Kuno bared her teeth, redoubling her efforts, the entire world starting to spin crazily around her. Her vision darkened, and she staggered helplessly, losing her mark, thudding down hard next to Warden’s unmoving form.
With her last ounce of strength, Kuno lifted a hoof to lay against one of Warden’s. A teardrop fell down her cheek.
“N-no… Warden… wake u-up… I love you…” Kuno sobbed softly, before succumbing to the drain of attempting to heal him, surrendering to the darkness.