Complications
Four months later
Days faded into weeks. Weeks faded into months.
Warden sat on a road on the outskirts of Canterlot, staring up at the larger mansion on the hill.
Kuno nudged him lightly with an outstretched wing. “Hey. You still with me?”
Warden nodded silently, lowering his head to peer down at the copy of the property deed he held clasped in a hoof. It had taken all of Kuno’s small fortune, grants from the crown, and two extensions of a credit line to win the bidding on the large mansion.
“I’m just… it’s ours now,” Warden murmured, staring up at the mansion again, his ears splaying back slowly. “All this planning and preparing and… it’s ours.”
“Well, you did pay for it,” Kuno pointed out with a faint giggle, an eyebrow arching. “That’s how simple sales work, you know.”
“But still. I own a mansion. We own a mansion. A mansion,” Warden pointed out, staring up at the large mansion with wide eyes, and then down to the deed in his hoof. “I mean, it’s a freaking mansion!”
“Could be a castle if we added a few towers, a walls, and a moat full of crocodiles,” Kuno said with a sage nod.
“Castle, mansion, either way, we have more rooms than we could possibly ever use,” Warden pointed out, sitting down heavily on his rump, his wings giving an agitated little flick. “I’m just… I don’t know what to do.”
“Well, if we manage twice a day, we could be done christening each room by this time next year!” Kuno said with a happy bounce.
Warden’s face paled. “I uh… I think you’d kill me.”
“Oh c’mon. A little magic, a good, hearty breakfast, and lots of coffee, and we could probably have them all christened by next week!” Kuno said with an earnest nod, pushing up against his side amorously.
“Not happening,” Warden squeaked, shaking his head firmly and taking a step away from her. “I’d be a withered husk.”
“A happy withered husk!” Kuno protested with a huff.
Warden pursed his lips, snorting once.
Kuno rolled her eyes, and then tilted her head towards the front gate. “So… are you going to enter your castle for the first time, Prince?”
“It’s a mansion,” Warden pointed out, ears splaying back slightly.
“Well… your mansion then, Duke!” Kuno said with a happy bounce.
“I suppose I can’t sit out here gawking at it all day,” Warden admitted, frowning as he stepped forwards and laid a hoof on the front gate. “It’s not even going to be ready to grow crops for another few weeks… and then there’s the fact that there’s all of two rooms actually livable at the moment with all the crap still in there…”
“If it helps any, think of it as less of a mansion and more of a… crop growing facility,” Kuno said with a short nod. “After all, that is why we bought it.”
Warden nodded, pursing his lips again, before pushing his shoulder against the front gate, swinging it inwards, stepping on to the ground.
“How’s it feel to own a mansion?” Kuno asked with a giggle, bouncing behind him.
“Undoubtedly strange. Especially since it used to belong to the guy who made my life a living hell,” Warden admitted, frowning and rubbing his chin with a hoof.
“Well now you can take all his things, put them in a huge pile, and burn them!” Kuno said with another happy bounce.
“You are far too cheerful about morbid things,” Warden said, shaking his head slowly.
“I’m a changeling, it’s just what you do when you’re awesome!” Kuno said with another little bounce.
Kuno frowned slightly, unscrewing the lid of a jar containing some kind of strange greenish liquid, and then taking a tentative sniff. She immediately jerked backwards, one eye twitching, nose wrinkled hard. She capped the jar, and then dropped it carefully into the bin, retching just faintly before moving on to the next jars.
Warden was sitting beside her, inspecting various jars, sorting them into ‘salvageable’ and ‘bin’ piles. The ‘bin’ pile was growing rapidly, as it seemed that when the mansion was abandoned, they left at least half of the pantry there to rot.
“Good lord. There are at least another hundred rooms. We’ve been here in the pantry for three hours!” Warden complained.
Kuno wrinkled her nose further, pushing a jar containing a black, fuzzy substance into the bin. “Well, we did pay for this place. We could always hire a cleaning crew.”
Warden gave a long sigh, wings giving a defeated twitch. “Yeah, you’re right. That would be expensive. We at least need some bits for food.”
“Correction: You need some bits for food. If I’m hungry I can just seduce you,” Kuno responded with a giggle.
“Not after this morning,” Warden protested with a shake of his head. “The smell and look of all of this is the least sexy thing I have ever witnessed.”
Kuno’s wings gave a faint buzz. “Yeah, I know what you mean. I haven’t really eaten anything in the last week and I want to throw up.”
“And we’ve gotta finish this up quick. I’ll have to leave soon to pick up Swarm on the way back,” Warden pointed out.
“Right, right. Can’t you just let the aurora die and start over?” Kuno complained.
Warden shook his head sadly. “Not really. We need the crop to pay for the startup of this little farm.”
Kuno sighed faintly and then nodded once. “Well… you go on ahead. I’ll finish the rest of the pantry.”
Warden frowned at that, pawing at the floor anxiously. “You sure?”
Kuno rolled her eyes, nudging him with the tip of one of her translucent wings. “Yes, I’m sure. Get going!”
Warden nodded once, tossing a jar into the bin and then leaning over to kiss his wife on the cheek. “I’ll be back later then!”
Warden was met at the front door by his parents, with Gale Force being in the process of lifting a hoof to knock on the door when it opened.
“We rang the bell for a good five minutes,” Gale Force said, frowning.
Warden winced slightly at that. “Uh yeah, well, the rope connecting the lever to the bell itself is broken, I’m afraid.”
“You should probably fix that,” Gale Force said sternly.
“Yeah, I’ll get around to it,” Warden responded, flustered. “Hi mom, hi Gale. What are you two doing here?”
“Well, I heard my favorite son bought himself a mansion so I wanted to come check it out!” Threadbare said with an earnest nod.
Warden blinked once. “Well, I was just leaving, actually,” he admitted with a strained smile. “I have to tend to the aurora crop and it’s halfway to Ponyville, so I can’t exactly dilly-dally.”
“You go on ahead, then,” Threadbare said with a smile and a nod. “We’ll, ah… well, we’ll wait.”
“Kuno won’t eat you, mom,” Warden said, pursing his lips
Threadbare snorted once. “I know that!” she protested, looking away for a moment and chewing her bottom lip. “But I… I guess we can go in and make nice.”
Warden raised an eyebrow at Gale Force.
Gale Force just grunted in response.
“Welp, I’ll see you two when I get back,” Warden said, pushing between them and then half-jogging towards the front gate, hobbling with his bad hoof.
Threadbare turned to her husband, an eyebrow raising. “How long has it been?”
“Four months or so,” Gale Force said thoughtfully.
“You’re probably going to have to push him out of the nest, so to speak,” Threadbare advised.
Gale Force gave a long sigh. “He already hates me, do you really think…”
“I’m sure he’ll understand,” Threadbare said, nudging him firmly with her hip. “Now go and do it or you’re sleeping on the couch.”
“Yes, dear,” Gale Force intoned, kissing underneath her ear gently. “You know I was going to do it eventually, right?”
“You’re waiting way, way too long,” Threadbare said with a shake of her head. “Now go.”
“I’ll be back!” Gale Force said, turning on the spot and then launching himself into the air after his son.
Warden was hobbling down the path towards Ponyville as fast as his three-hooved gait could carry him, an awkward kind of bouncy-hop, with his good wing spread for balance counter-balancing against the lack of hoof to step on.
Gale Force back-winged to a landing beside him, dropping into an easy ground-eating stride alongside his son.
“Did I forget something?” Warden asked, blinking once as he turned to peer at Gale Force.
Gale Force nodded. “Something important, actually.”
Warden skidded to a halt, wincing inwardly. “What did I forget?”
Gale Force stepped up besides him, corralling Warden towards the edge of the cliff. There was no guard rail there, but it was a wide, wide stretch of road and there was no danger of anypony falling off if they were in any way careful.
“Look over there,” Gale Force said, raising a hoof and pointing.
“That’s Ponyville,” Warden said, mystified.
“Now look down there,” Gale Force directed, pointing down the side of the cliff.
Warden frowned, leaning over the edge to peer down towards the base of the mountain. “I… I don’t get it.”
“Glad I caught you when I did. This part of the road is so perfectly jutting out from the side of the mountain. The drop is pretty sheer,” Gale Force said conversationally.
Warden took a step away from him, frowning deeply. “You’re… kinda weirding me out.”
“There’s nothing to worry about,” Gale Force said in a chipper tone, stepping closer to his son and throwing a hoof around him. “Just remember, you’re a pegasus.”
“Are you drunk?” Warden asked bluntly.
“Nope. But you’re going to wish you were in about three seconds,” Gale Force said cheerfully.
“What happens in three seconds?” Warden asked warily, leaning away from Gale Force.
Gale Force just smiled. “This.”
Without any warning, Gale force took a single step backwards, and then shoved his shoulder hard against Warden’s, sending the smaller pegasus tumbling off the edge of the cliff and out into open air.
Threadbare pushed the doorway open slowly, peering into the kitchen, where she could hear grumbling and the clink of glass bottles echoing.
“Hellllo?” she called, ears pricking forwards.
“Over here!” Kuno called back.
Threadbare barely caught sight of a tail flicking around a corner, before she head a very faint sound like fire. After a few moments, Threadbare poked her head around the door and saw Kuno in her pegasus form sorting bottles.
“You don’t have to do that, you know,” Threadbare said gently.
Kuno peered back over her shoulder, and then gave a sad smile. “I know it makes you uncomfortable.”
“Well I have to get used to it sometime,” Threadbare said with a wise nod, sitting down on her rump and peering along the shelves at all the jars arranged there.
Kuno pursed her lips, and then nodded once. “I uh… I guess you’re right.” A flash of green consumed the changeling, and when it faded, Kuno was there again in her natural form, vibrant wings giving a faint buzz before laying flat against her back. “So what brings you here?”
“Well, came to check out the mansion, really. It’s not often a family member acquires such a huge property,” Threadbare explained, moving to sit beside Kuno, using her magic to lift a jar and inspect it, not even opening it before throwing it out.
“Yeah, we just started this morning. Figured we’d better get the pantry done first so we have somewhere to store all our food,” Kuno admitted, throwing out another three jars that seemed to have once held pickles.
“That’s a good idea. So… how is Swarm?” Threadbare queried.
“Swarm is good,” Kuno said with a soft nod. “She’s doing better in school. Though she’s still only friends with Wrought Iron. She thinks I don’t know, but the teachers tell us everything.”
Threadbare gave a faint smile. “So she has her own little clique then?”
“More like a victim to steal love from,” Kuno said with a faint frown.
Threadbare blinked.
“Yeah, she’s an emotivore alright. I’ve felt it,” Kuno said with a thoughtful nod. “And she’s maturing more like a changeling than a pony.”
“But… she’s just a little foal,” Threadbare said with a slow shake of her head. “She can’t be… stealing love, can she?”
“She can, and she is,” Kuno said factually, licking her fangs anxiously. “It’s not like I can stop her from doing it… and I don’t know that she’s old enough yet for a serious talk about the morality of stealing love.”
“But… they’re just foals,” Threadbare said with a long stare at the changeling. “It can’t be real love, can it?”
“The definition of ‘love’ changes as you grow older, but a flame is still a flame, no matter how bright it burns. In fact, the love a foal feels for another is very strong. Their emotions are so screwed up at that age that everything eventually leads to one form or another of love, and it’s very, very potent. Tastes funny though,” Kuno said thoughtfully, wrinkling her nose.
“You’ve stolen love from a foal before?” Threadbare asked, aghast.
“Taught a preschool class once,” Kuno said with a nod and a smile. “After a week or so, half the foals loved me, half of them hated me. But the half that loved me kept me supplied for quite a while.”
“You’re with my son because you love him, right?” Threadbare asked stiffly.
“Of course,” Kuno responded, tossing another jar into the bin. “It’s been years. I could find steady love elsewhere. But none of it feels… well, none of it feels as right as being with Warden does.”
“I… I wish I could completely believe you,” Threadbare said with a faint sigh.
“I appreciate your candour,” Kuno said with a nod. “But I… I just don’t feel the need to appease you. I love your son. And we’re together. Whether you like it or not is immaterial to our happiness.”
“So… what are you going to use all the different rooms for?” Threadbare asked, changing the subject.
“Well,” Kuno started with a grin, “We’re going to make one for pressing and storing some grapes that we’re going to be putting in the north field, and then—”
Warden flailed at the air with his hooves, screaming in terror as he plummeted towards the ground at a very, very high rate of speed.
Gale Force idly feel beside him, on his back, seemingly at peace with the world. “I suggest you spread your wings.”
“W-what?!” Warden spluttered, but his words were ripped away by the wind.
“Open your damn wings!” Gale Force snapped, rolling over and grasping Warden’s wings, stretching them out for him.
Warden’s eyes widened and he gasped as his wings caught the air, his right wing folding on the impulse to reduce pain.
Gale Force held the wing out rigid though, hoof clasped around the end of the large primary to keep Warden from closing it.
Warden saw the ground rushing up to meet him, and closed his eyes, bracing for the impact.
After several long seconds, Warden opening his eyes, gasping as he floated aloft along the treetops.
He was flying.
The wind was whistling through his feathers and making his ears cold, stinging against his eyes, and a bung smashed against his cheek before tumbling away to the forest floor. Everything was just as he remembered it.
He was flying!
A powerful hoof grasped between Warden’s shoulders and literally lifted him upwards, flinging him higher into the air. His hooves brushed against the top of a tree he was about to careen into.
“Watch where you’re going!” Gale Force snarled, thumping his shoulder in rebuke.
Warden looked back over his shoulder for a moment, unable to help a grin from spreading across his face, before he looked back forwards again. A half-second later, he juked around a tall tree, curling his wings lightly to correct his course. His bad wing protested, but held steady.
A trail appeared in the forest below, and Warden stared down at it in wonder. It was the same trail he had walked to his home for the past five years. Without a second though, he dropped down into the tree line and sped down the trail, taking each corner with room to spare, wings flapping once every few seconds to keep him aloft. He wasn’t flying particularly fast, but to a pegasus that had been grounded for years, it felt like warp speed to him.
No time at all passed for Warden, and he was already at the cottage, tilting backwards and back-winging to a clumsy stop atop his the cottage roof. Several tiles were knocked loose by his overly-hard landing, and he bounced once or twice before steadying himself, grinning and closing his wings, ruffling them once, testing them.
Gale Force landed neatly beside him, grunting once in satisfaction. “See? Ya idiot. You could fly all along.”
Warden turned to peer at Gale Force, frowning slightly. “All these mornings you forced me into doing wing push-ups…”
“I did it because you’re lumpy,” Gale Force growled, shaking his head once. “I’ve seen better definition on a painting someone described to me.”
Warden snorted once, turning away, and then peering back at him a long moment. “Well… Uh… thanks for pushing me off a cliff and all.”
Gale Force smiled. “Any time.”
“And, you know, waking me up at five every morning, and basically beating the crap out of me,” Warden continued.
Gale Force grunted once. “You’re welcome.”
“Not going to have a bonding moment, are we?” Warden asked bluntly.
“Nope,” Gale Force said with a shake of his head.
Warden nodded quietly. “Well, I’ll uh… I’ll see you back at the mansion… dad.”
“Don’t be late,” Gale Force said, launching himself off the roof without another word.
Warden stared after him, giving a faint smile.
Warden back-winged to a slightly-less-clumsy stop, bouncing and wincing as he put weight on his bad hoof. He shook it out, gritting his teeth, before starting down the long ravine towards where he grew his aurora.
Warden frowned deeply as he caught sight of somepony already sitting amongst his aurora crop, facing away from him. Something about her felt somehow familiar. Even without seeing her face or cutie mark.
“Hello? Who are you?” Warden asked warily.
The pony turned, peering back over her shoulder, brushing a lock of a honey-gold mane out of her green eyes.
Warden stared, suddenly aware of his heart thumping hard in his throat. His head started pounding, and his legs started to get a little bit weak.
“N-no… Y-you died…” Warden whispered weakly, staring, eyes wide.
The pony turned, tilting her head at him, before she rose to her hooves and started towards him.
“Hello, Warden. There’s a few things I think we need to talk about,” Swarm said.
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Glad this was updated!
>Sees the update
>Reads
>Gets to the end
>???
>MFW
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What.
He-he-he. So, some of us was right about swarm being alive.
There is only 1 "-" - chapter is to short and abrupt for all this.
3780770 Indeed
3779809
To read all four storys? Three hours? Aha
What?! Swarm is alive?! I'm calling BS on this one, I think its a changeling trying to steal love from Warden. Also, I love the new cover art, but I think it would be better for "The lost Chapters" than this story.
Chrissy, bad form to impersonate dead peeps to fuck relationships up.
What a
!
Well I hope you've got some good explanation coming in the next chapter, 'cause I'm ready to flip some tables otherwise.
Ok......did NOT see that comming...............Complications indeed.
Its the Queen. O damn shits getting real. Good to see a update!
Someone please remind me how Swarm died.
Hi Chrysalis
Swarm is ALIVE?!!?!
AWESOME!!!!
Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa....
My money is on the idea that Swarm always was a changeling and her dieing was her moving on to a new food source.
I'm predicting a 75% chance of murder in the near future.
3780845
She got sick and Warden tried to find a cure but the only source was guarded by manticores so he couldn't get it in time and she died.
Also, she was apparently with foal at the time, so there's that.
Pretty sure this is either a changeling looking for a quick feed, or some sort of mental breakdown.
3780770
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3780845
I believe she died from a rare disease that could only be cured from a plant that was unfortunately heavily guarded by a mantacore.
No way is that actually swarm.
Gets to end
???????????????????
3780818 Yeah if that's true ya didn't get any of the story line it was just a blur.
The desire for murder intensifies!!
*reads the new chapter*
*gets to the end*
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Dang Changelings. Not Kuno, the one pretending to be Swarm.
3780964 Is it wrong that I want to keep watching that gif repeat?
3781041 Actually, it shows that you know what you like... So... GET TO WORK ON WRITING GRIMDARK!!!!
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What they said.
Well.... shit. Looks like I've got another bug's neck to break.
Because that's not Swarm. That's Chryssy.
Also... tough love much, Gale Force?
Suddenly, I got that song from Portal, still alive
....I really hope this is Swarm pulling a shitty prank on her father.
Gotta be Chrysalis, or a crony. Awesome chapter!
There's a few reasonable theories... I mean, Kuno said that one of her first thingies was to replace/treat someone at the hospital, so it's entirely possible the Swarm that died was a changeling looking for desperate love for being in the hospital. Second theory is that Swarm is Chryssy, since we haven't seen anything of her in awhile. Third theory is... Dang. Forgot my third theory... Oh! Third is continuing the first's thought process. She was captured and only just managed to escape because Shining Armour LET himself get captured/enamoured to lead the others to the new/old hive so they could kill them, which freed the real Swarm.
I'd keep going, but I'd rather be surprised.
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sweet cum of luna shit is about to get real...why cant the queen of changlings find some other man to rape...came on there is nothing but trouble coming when she is around...
i just had an idea put luna in the chapter doing something only a boss would do
metroid_freak.exe has stopped working. Would you like to restart now or wait for the program to respond?
>RAPE
Original Swarm alive? Calling it now, its Chryssie in disguise...
3781078 Hate you? Nyx is best OC.
Why did I just link a whole bunch of comments in this chapter? Because reasons.
Hmm...*reads chapter* Good, good...they've moved in. Excellent. *reads more*
What!?!?
Family bonding moment...Threadbare and Kuno talking family stuff...talk of Swarm..*keeps reading*
Gale Force defenstrates his own son, though there's really no window to speak of, just the face of a cliff where the sudden stop kills (not the fall). *keeps reading*
Warden's flying! Yay! About time you silly pegasus! *keeps reading*
Swarm's alive. Good.....
....
......
........! *snap*
you son of a female canine...
3780964
preeeeety much what I thought.
CHANGELING ALERT! CHANGELING ALERT! Warden, you big lummox, back away while there's still time!
Wow is all I can say.
3780770 I can't decide. Be happy because AP gave me two chapters as an early birthday present! (I didn't know you cared!)
Or be pissed at Red-Shirt changeling impersonating Swarm...
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