//------------------------------// // Progeny // Story: An Affliction of the Heart: Volume Four // by Anonymous Pegasus //------------------------------// Warden jerked upright as he heard the doorbell ring, his mouth going dry and wings subconsciously springing outwards, stiff and quivering. He danced in place anxiously, ears pinning back against his skull and then perking upwards, before splaying flat again. “Relax, Warden,” Kuno soothed, stroking a hoof lightly through his mane as she passed, heading towards the front door. “Does… err… Do they know about me?” “Everyone knows about you,” Warden said with a shake of his head. “It was in the newspaper. But maybe…” Before he even finished his sentence, a flash of green fire had engulfed the changeling and her ‘default’ pony form was standing in her place. A soft white pegasus with a flowing golden mane and tail. Kuno opened the door, stepping back and smiling. “Good evening.” “Hello, Kuno,” Green Hoof said with a faint smile, motioning to her right. “This is my husband, Stunning Facet, and my son, Mint Green.” Warden craned his head to the side, trying to peer past his wife and spot the colt, but only managing to catch a glimpse of a blue/green crystal pony flank. Kuno stepped back, nodding. “It’s very nice to meet you, come in, come in, we have the table set already.” Kuno stepped to the left and Warden felt his breath catch in his throat. There, between the earth pony and the crystal pony, was a little colt. He was bigger than Swarm, more than a year older. He was an almost uniform brown from nose to haunch, with a tangle green mane and tail, and a little mint leaf as a cutie mark. Warden could only stare. Green Hoof and Stunning Facet nodded, stepping inside so that Kuno could close the door behind them. Mint Green’s eyes met Warden’s, and Warden blinked once, suddenly apprehensive. He swallowed thickly, rising to his hooves and then stepping away through a doorway. “Mommy, who was that pony?” Mint Green asked, tugging at Green Hoof’s foreleg curiously. But Warden was already running down the hallway at full speed and didn’t hear the response. “So what do you do, Stunning Facet?” Kuno asked as she poured boiling water into four cups. “I mainly work in the gemcrafting business,” Stunning Facet said with an easy smile. “Rarity is my main customer, to be honest. Without her, I’d be out of business. She could get her gems from anywhere, but she likes my prismatic collection so much that she refused to let me leave.” Stunning Facet was a large stallion, a unicorn crystal pony, with a blue/green body, stunningly blue, crystal-facet eyes, and a red mane and tail that looked like a cascade of shimmering rubies falling from his head. “That’s fascinating. What are prismatic gems?” Kuno asked, placing the cups down in front of each of them and one at the seat where Warden would occupy. “It’s a technique I developed. I found that if you use the right magic, you can splinter a gem along special fault lines. They tend to break the same way each and every time. So, if I splinter a lot of different gems, and then put them back together…” Stunning Facet explained with a slow smile. “You get a gem that’s the same composition as the original, but it’s a ruby, sapphire, diamond, amethyst, and whatever other precious material you can think of, all rolled into one. And if you shine light through it, it’s very, very pretty.” “That’s very interesting,” Kuno said with a soft nod and a smile. “Are they expensive? I think Swarm would love to play with one of those.” “Well, if you’re interested, I can probably make you one for free! What are her favorite colours?” Stunning Facet asked with a warm smile. Kuno pondered for a long moment. “I honestly have no idea. You’d have to ask her yourself. Warden? Can you go fetch Swarm?” Warden stiffened, skulking into view from around the corner where he’d had his ear pressed against the wall. “Can I what?” “Can you go and get Swarm, please? Stunning Facet wants to know her favorite colours,” Kuno said with a faint smile, motioning with her nose towards the doorway. “I’m… I’m Warden, by the way,” he said with a lame wave of his hoof in the direction of Green Hoof, Stunning Facet, and Mint Green, who was under the table reading a magazine about herbs. “I’ll go get Swarm,” he said awkwardly, stepping back out of view of the dining room. “His medication sort of messes with him,” Kuno said with a sad smile. Stunning Facet gave a slow nod. Green Hoof squirmed uncomfortably. “So… I understand that you’re a changeling?” Stunning Facet asked, turning to Kuno, ears perked in curiosity. Kuno nodded slowly. “That is correct.” “That’s so… weird!” Stunning Facet said enthusiastically. “Why did you marry a pony?” “Because he’s… well… he’s him,” Kuno said with an awkward smile. “And you killed Chrysalis. Was that difficult?” Stunning Facet pressed. Kuno gave a slight strained smile. “Her sternum provided the most resistance, honestly. Took a good amount of thrust to get past it.” Kuno demonstrated the motion with a hard shove of her hoof. “But after that, it was fairly easy.” Stunning Facet wrinkled his nose, giving a slightly disgusted look. “Well… I guess so. Can I… see it?” “It doesn’t bother you?” Kuno asked blankly. “I’m a crystal pony,” Stunning Facet said, tapping his chest with the sound of something metal tapping on glass. “We disappeared a fair amount of time before the ponies went to war with changelings.” Kuno gave an understanding nod. She screwed up her face, and a flash of green engulfed her. When it faded, the more diminutive changeling was standing in her place, wings buzzing awkwardly. She licked her lips and fangs nervously, peering up at the stallion. “That is so cool,” Stunning Facet said, grinning from ear to ear. “Can you really be any pony?” Another flash of green engulfed her form, and when it faded, Nightmare Moon was glowering at Green Hoof and Stunning Facet. “Thou darest question our abilities?!” Warden and Swarm paused in the doorway of the dining room. Kuno paused as well, ears pricking upwards, looking back over her shoulder. She was in the guise of Spitfire, and in the middle of a spiel about how awesome she was. “What are you doing?” Warden asked blankly. “Entertaining our guests,” Kuno said with a grin, waving a hoof. A flash of green passed over her, and she reverted back to her normal self. She poked her tongue out at her husband, before turning back to the guests. Mint Green looked up from his magazine, blinking once at Swarm. Swarm paused, squinting at the colt, before stepping forwards cautiously, sitting down in front of him. “Hi.” “Hi.” “I’m Mint Green,” he said. “I’m Swarm,” she responded. Warden stood awkwardly to one side, staring at Mint Green. Green Hoof bit her bottom lip, before giving Kuno a significant glance, and then turning to Warden. “Warden… why don’t you show Mint Green your vines? He’s quite interested in plants.” Warden Swallowed thickly. “I… I…” “Plants?” Mint Green asked, clambering to his hooves, stepping towards Warden. “I like plants.” Warden splayed his ears back, before nodding. “Uh… sure. C’mon then,” he said lamely, motioning towards the door that lead outside. “What’s this one?!” Mint Green asked excitedly, pointing at another vine. “That’s just watermelon,” Warden explained. “And this one?” Mint Green asked earnestly. “Tomatoes,” Warden responded. “And those ones are jalapenos,” Mint Green moved towards another vine. “Chilli,” Warden said with a faint smile before the colt could ask. “And in between them is some kind of mutant strain that’s a mix of them both. Cross-pollinated, I think.” “Can I taste one?” Mint Green asked excitedly, bouncing in place. “Uh...that’d be a really really bad idea,” Warden admitted, frowning slightly. “The mutant strain is hotter than the other two combined, but here, try some grapes,” he said, picking off a bunch of grapes and handing them to the colt. Mint Green smiles, immediately biting into the grapes, suckling several into his mouth to chew on thoughtfully. “They’re not sour or sweet! They’re perfect!” Warden nodded slowly. “I do try to keep them from going either way. It’s a special kind of vine.” “Can I keep some of the seeds?” Mint Green asked eagerly. “I’d like to try grow some myself!” Warden nodded again, his wings giving a slightly anxious flick. “Yeah, yeah you can take as many seeds as you need.” “But first…” Mint Green said, spitting a seed out onto his hoof and then peering at an empty spot in the garden. He bolted over to it, scraping away the top layer of soil and then pushing the seed into place, before ever-so-carefully covering it up with dirt. “There, now you’ll have a vine here, too!” Warden swallowed thickly, biting his tongue, blinking several times to try and clear the sudden tears building in his eyes. “Warden, are you alright?” Kuno asked softly, resting a hoof between the pegasus’ wings. Warden shook his head, ears splaying back heavily. Mint Green was ahead of them, carefully tugging and pulling vines in different directions, wrapping them around the steel pickets. Kuno frowned slightly, wrapping her hooves around him and hugging him warmly. “What’s wrong?” “I-I don’t e-even know,” Warden blubbered, tears spilling down over his cheeks. “Why am I crying? What’s wrong with me?” “He’s your son,” Kuno soothed, gently stroking a hoof down his wings. “H-he’s just so… so perfect… and he’s right there and I want to pick him up and hug him but I’m just some weird pegasus to him…” Warden said, staring at the ground and then pawing at the dirt slowly. “This sucks… This just sucks so fucking much. He’s right there.” Kuno nodded knowingly, gently nuzzling into the crook of his neck. “I… don’t know what to tell you, Warden.” “I don’t know what to do,” Warden said, lowering his head. “I don’t know what to do. I always know what to do. I’m not indecisive. But this… I just… I can’t…Tell me what to do…” he said plaintively. Kuno shook her head, squeezing him with her hooves gently. “Nopony can tell you what to do in this situation.” “Well I can’t… I can’t do anything. I can’t just walk up to him and say ‘hey, I’m your father. You don’t know me, and I have a family already. But you’re my son! Enjoy your future and here’s some bits for a psychiatrist’,” Warden said with a shake of his head, dropping onto his stomach and just staring at the colt. “I want to take him in… and teach him… I want to… I don’t even know any more. I want to do all the things my father never did for me…” “He already has a father,” Kuno said sternly, nudging his neck with her nose. “Stop being such a pony.” Warden raised an eyebrow at her slowly. Kuno snorted, rolling her eyes. “He has your blood. But he has parents, Warden.” Warden nodded slowly, rising to his hooves and brushing dirt from his stomach. “You’re absolutely right,” he said, turning on his hooves and marching towards the door leading back into the mansion. Kuno watched him go, grimacing apprehensively. “Got a moment?” Warden asked, staring at Stunning Facet. Green Hoof and Swarm both looked up as well, each of them seeing something in his expression that made them shrink backwards slightly. “Surely,” Stunning Facet said with a short nod. “Good, I’d like to talk to you,” Warden said calmly, motioning towards the ceiling. “We’ll go up to the roof.” Green Hoof looked back and forth between Warden and her husband, biting her bottom lip. “Fay…” Stunning Facet shook his head, shushing her gently. “It’s fine, it’s fine. I’ll come, lead the way.” Warden nodded, whirling on his hooves and stalking out the door and into the hallway, heading for the winding staircase that led higher into the building. Stunning Facet tagged along behind him, expression set, determined. “Daddy is being very abrupt,” Swarm said to herself, as she rolled a small gem back and forth under her hoof, watching the way it split the light. Wind whipped past the rooftop, carried down the mountain, chilled and refreshing. It swept Warden’s mane all over the place, while Stunning Facet’s barely moved at all. “So… what did you want to talk to me about?” Stunning Facet asked carefully. Warden paused, inhaling deeply, and then giving a slow exhale. “About Mint Green.” “What about him?” Stunning Facet asked guardedly. “I saw you paying a great deal of attention to him.” “Do you know he’s not yours?” Warden asked bluntly, rounding on him to stare into his eyes fiercely. “There were… hints,” Stunning Facet responded blithely. “The biggest one being that Green Hoof was very pregnant when I met her.” Warden deflated slightly at that, sitting down on his rump, his wings drooping. “...He’s mine.” “That explains quite a few things,” Stunning Facet said carefully, brow furrowing. “I can’t be his father,” Warden said quietly, his ears splaying back, staring down at his hooves for a long moment. His gaze slowly lifted, to find Stunning Facet’s own. “But you chose to take up the job. And you’re going to take it seriously.” “I do take it seriously,” Stunning Facet replied, offended. Warden’s eyes narrowed slowly, and his voice took on a slightly more dangerous note. “I’ll be watching. If you mistreat him… if you don’t do your job as a father then I’m going to swoop in and destroy you. And if I don’t do it, my wife certainly will. Am I understood?” Stunning Facet was quiet a moment, before he nodded somberly. “Yes. I understand.” “Good,” Warden said, turning his back on the crystal pony and resting his chin on crossed forehooves, staring out over the grounds. Stunning Facet moved up beside him, resting his own hooves on the railing. “So tell me… you and Green Hoof…?” “Over,” Warden said stiffly. “Over and done.” “If things were different?” Stunning Facet asked bluntly. “Things were different. It was just her and I on a grape farm out near where your empire reappeared. But then Kuno came back to me,” Warden explained with a shrug of his shoulders. “Green Hoof is… she’s great. But she doesn’t hold a candle to Kuno.” Stunning Facet nodded slowly at that, looking thoughtful. “It’s not awkward with you two working together? There’s no… tension?” “She kissed me,” Warden responded, painfully blunt. Stunning Facet sucked in a breath, wheezing faintly. “I… I honestly don’t know how to respond to that.” “You can hit me if you’d like?” Warden offered, raising an eyebrow. “I wouldn’t feel it, but it’d make you feel better, perhaps?” “You said… that she kissed you?” Stunning facet asked uneasily. “There are lingering feelings there,” Warden said with brutal honesty. Stunning Facet’s ears splayed back. “And… and what did you do?” “I explained to her that I belong to another and that pursuing me is ludicrous,” Warden responded calmly. The crystal pony frowned deeply, pawing at the rail slowly, scuffing it with his hoof. “This is… a bit much to absorb…” “She’s not cheating on you,” Warden said, exasperated. “I’m the father of her child, of course there’s some lingering emotions there. If my experience with love has taught me anything, it’s that love is like a drug. And coming down off it hurts. You’d do anything for just one more hit.” Stunning Facet nodded slowly, visibly chewing on his tongue. “So… you didn’t have much of a relationship with your father?” “Was it that obvious?” Warden asked with a slow, defeated laugh. “Yes,” Stunning Facet said with a faint smile. “We fully intend to tell Mint Green that he’s not my son when he’s a little bit older. We could… let him know who his real father is?” Warden frowned deeply at that, staring down at his hooves. “Everything in me wants to say ‘yes’... but… he has a father. Your presence is more of a claim on him than the fact that he has my blood in his veins… if that makes any sense at all.” “It makes perfect sense,” Stunning Facet assured, looking at Warden sideways. “But if I catch you eyeing my wife I’m going to have to replace random parts of your anatomy with crystal shards, understood?” Warden nodded, giving a slight smile. “I understand.” Stunning Facet turned to him, offering his hoof. Warden blinked once, turning as well and taking the hoof into his own, shaking it. Stunning Facet tugged on the hoof, pulling the two stallions together until their chest’s bumped, and he patted Warden’s shoulder with a hoof. Warden did the same to the crystal pony. “You’re a decent pony,” Stunning Fact admitted. “You were straight with me when it would be easier to lie. And you’re not running away from the fact that you have a bastard child running around. I respect that.” “And you’re with a mare that has a pre-started family. That takes balls. I wouldn’t be able to deal with Swarm on a day-to-day basis without the knowledge that she’s my daughter,” Warden admitted with a slightly nervous laugh. “Though don’t tell Kuno that or she’ll flay me.” Stunning Facet smirked. “I’ll keep that in mind next time I need blackmail material.” “Daddy, can we go home now? I’m tired,” Mint Green complained, tugging on Stunning Facet’s forehoof. Warden stared at this for several long moments, before closing his eyes and looking away, biting his tongue. “We’re going soon,” Stunning Facet assured, reaching down with a hoof to ruffle the colt’s mane. “Just hang on until we get home and you can have some ice cream when we get there.” “Ice cream?” Mint Green asked, perking up instantly. “I could go for more ice cream!” “Moooom,” Swarm started, Kuno giggled softly, shaking her head and motioning towards the kitchen. “You know where it is, hun.” Swarm beamed, bouncing to her hooves and bolting into the kitchen. There was a thud! as she ran into a cupboard, but bounced off immediately, making a beeline for the freezer. “We really should be going, though,” Green Hoof admitted, looking out the window. “It’s getting late. I don’t think Mint Green wants to walk to the station in the dark.” “There are scary things in the dark,” Mint Green admitted, frowning deeply. “Scarier than me?” Kuno asked, licking her fangs innocently. Mint Green frowned at her thoughtfully, before nodding. “You’re a nice scary bug, Mrs. Kuno.” Kuno laughed at that, shaking her head, wings buzzing happily. “Thank you for dinner, Kuno, Warden,” Stunning Facet said with a short nod to each of them in turn. “I won’t forget what you said, Warden.” “Neither will I,” Warden promised. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Warden,” Green Hoof said softly. “The aurora is coming along nicely.” “You’ve been rotating the fruits like I said?” Warden queried. “Every eighteen hours on the dot,” Green Hoof assured. Warden cleared his throat nervously, “You can… uh… bring Mint Green too, if you want. I’m sure he’d be fascinated by aurora.” Green Hoof exchanged a glance with her husband. Stunning Facet nodded slightly. “Okay, sure, I’ll bring him if he wants to come,” Green Hoof said with a faint smile. “Aurora? Is it a plant?” Mint Green asked earnestly. “One of the most difficult plants to grow in the world,” Green Hoof assured with a warm smile. Mint Green bounced in place. “I wanna see it!” “Tomorrow,” Green Hoof said, shushing the colt. “Now c’mon, we’ve got a train to catch.” Mint Green nodded, turning back to Warden and Kuno, waving his little hoof furiously. “Byyye!” “Bye,” Warden said with a lame wave of his own hoof. And with that, the three ponies were gone. Warden slumped over the dinner table, tracing a random pattern into the cloth with his hoof. “Feel weird?” Kuno asked sympathetically, pushing up against his side affectionately. Warden nodded, wings drooping. “I… I didn’t really know how I was going to feel. I didn’t know it was going to be… strong. If Stunning Facet tried to discipline him in front of me I might just have strangled him…” “He is your son, and you are a pony,” Kuno said with a faint smile, rubbing the smooth fronts of her oversized fangs against his neck soothingly. “But you didn’t come to blows, so I’m proud of you. What, though, did you talk about up on the roof?” “I just told Stunning Facet in no uncertain terms that if he mistreated Mint Green in any way, I would end him,” Warden said bluntly. Kuno raised a brow, before laughing softly. “I love it when you get all macho. It’s adorable.” “No, it’s rugged and handsome and sexy,” Warden said with a shake of his head, wrapping a hoof around Kuno and squeezing her very carefully. “What did you and Green Hoof talk about while we were gone?” “School stuff, mostly,” Kuno admitted, wrinkling her nose. “I had forgotten how boring and utterly inane pony conversations are. There’s so much… fluff!” “Some ponies just talk on and on and on,” Warden said with a helpless shrug. “Green Hoof has gotten a lot more tempered since she had Mint Green.” “You ruined her fiery spirit,” Kuno accused, nipping the side of his neck lightly. Warden smirked, squeezing his wife lovingly. “Well, I tamed you, didn’t I? She was just a mere cowpony!” “You didn’t tame me,” Kuno said, shaking her head and nudging up against him firmly. “You convinced me that life with you was more fun and more rewarding than the life of a changeling.” “Either way, I tamed you,” Warden pointed out, stroking over her wings lightly. Kuno opened her mouth to respond, but the doorbell ringing cut her off. “I’ll get it,” Warden said, stretching lazily and rising to his hooves. “Green Hoof probably forgot something.” Warden moved towards the front door, and Kuno sidestepped out of view of the hallway, just in case it was somepony else turning up. Opening the door, Warden was momentarily blinded by the setting sun casting golden rays right into his eyes from just above the horizon. He blinked once, squinting, before his eyes widened slowly. At least a hundred changelings were standing at his door in a neat formation. The one closest was staring at him, eye-to-eye, wings extended, ready. Warden backpedalled, clumsily bolting to the side of the hallway, snatching up a broomstick and moving to stand in the middle of the hallway, to try to halt the progress of the veritable army at his door. “Kuno! Take Swarm and run!” he yelled, his voice wavering. The lead changeling took a step forwards, and Warden took a step as well, moving closer to the door, hefting the weight of the broomstick in his hooves. His wings fluttered, stiff and quivering anxiously as he tried to prepare himself, eyes darting from one face, to the next. “What’s—” Kuno started, cutting herself off, eyes widening as she caught sight of the phalanx of changelings at their door. The lead changeling moved, and Warden winced backwards, expecting an attack. But instead of an attack, the lead changeling extended its wings, a glimmer of blue against the dark of its chitin, while forelegs bent. The changeling closed its eyes, sweeping its chest and head down, one hoof extended in front of itself, silently bowing. And one after the other, the rest of the changelings behind the first did the same. Rank after rank of changelings bowed, all silently inclining their heads. Warden quivered in place, uncertain, almost hyperventilating. “K-Kuno? What’s happening?!” Kuno just stared, wide-eyed, before she slowly sank down onto her rump with a soft thud, looking dumbstruck. “...Oh no.”