Renascence
Warden wished he was dead.
Constant, mind-numbing nausea assaulted his form. His insides felt like tiny demons were trying to claw their way out of his stomach. His head pounded. His throat was dry and scratchy. Every bone, every joint, every inch of skin ached. Every second was acute, mind-numbing agony.
Warden was strapped to the bed to keep his thrashing from injuring himself. Thick leather straps were bound around his head, chest, all four limbs, and his wings. His tail thrashed and whipped against the bed as he writhed in agony.
A collection of tubes connected him to a large machine with a pair of pumps on it, working to filter his blood. Blood went into the machine, was recycled, and then was pumped back into him.
Warden would have screamed himself hoarse if he didn’t have a breathing tube shoved down his throat.
Kuno stood at the window, listless and haggard.
Warden was completely unresponsive. He hadn’t even looked at her, even when she stood beside his bed and called his name, or shook him.
A doctor stood beside her, keeping a careful distance from the changeling, but holding a clipboard in a hoof.
“Ma’am… we need a decision. Our magical cures won’t work, and without it… he’ll die,” the doctor explained gently.
Kuno nodded glumly, lowering her gaze to the floor, and then lifting a hoof to rest on the window, staring in at her husband as he writhed in pain.
“I… do it. Just do it,” Kuno said, biting her bottom lip and trying to force back her tears. “Bring him back to me.”
“Yes, ma’am,” the doctor said, bowing his head slightly before hurrying away.
Kuno stared in at her husband, her ears splaying back slowly. “Forgive me, Warden…” she whispered faintly.
Warden took a deep, shuddering inhale, and then went still.
Kuno blinked once, moving cautiously to the side of the bed. “W-Warden?”
“Give him a minute,” the doctor cautioned, checking the monitors around the bed and then checking Warden’s pupils.
“He’s stopped thrashing around… that’s good, right?” Kuno asked, her voice a mix of anxious and hopeful.
The doctor nodded. “He is no longer in pain, at least. Though he is unconscious.”
Kuno’s ears pinned back. “When will I be able to talk with him?”
“You won’t be able to converse with him for quite some time,” the doctor explained with a shake of his head. “His condition is dire and his breathing tube must stay in place. We could try to give him something to encourage consciousness, but for now, he needs rest. Let our medicines do their work. Being hasty will only harm him.”
Kuno nodded glumly at that, pulling herself up on to Warden’s bed, and curling up against his side, resting her chin on his chest with a sad, disconsolate sigh.
Warden’s eyes shot open and he flailed his hooves in agitation, eyes wide and terrified.
Gale Force lifted his head from his chest where he had been napping, and gave a slow, weary blink. “S’matter?”
Warden rolled to the side, hooves clasping around the clear tube in his mouth and quickly stripping off the tape around his lips, and then rapidly pulling the tube out of his mouth. It was like a grotesque magic trick, inch after inch after inch of pale tube coming out of his mouth until he could throw it aside and then heave over the edge of the bed, throwing up violently over the floor.
A disgusting mix of bile and old blood spilled from Warden’s mouth, making a mess of the floor, dribbling from the corner of his mouth to make a mess of the bed.
He shuddered, gasping for air, before passing out.
Warden intermittently regained consciousness, eyes blinking open to stare at the ceiling in a stupor or idly watch the green line on the monitor in the room wiggle in time with his heartbeat.
His family was invariably with him. Kuno, Swarm, Gale Force and Threadbare took turns sitting with the completely non-responsive pegasus.
And the dialysis machine hooked up to his body kept pumping his blood around, filtering it carefully before sending it right back where it came from. His breathing tube hadn’t been re-inserted, as he was deemed to be stable enough to breath by himself.
It was a very, very long time before he regained consciousness enough to speak.
“Is that… is that my blood?” Warden asked weakly, staring at the dialysis machine hazily. “Why is my blood going over there? Is my blood going on holiday?”
Kuno lifted her head wearily, blinking slowly. Her chitin hardly conveyed her expression in an overt fashion, but it was obvious she was bordering on exhaustion. “Warden?”
“Come back…” Warden whined, holding out a hoof towards the dialysis machine. “Come back, blood!”
Kuno scowled, and slapped his hoof in rebuke.
Warden’s eyes immediately widened, and he arched, going rigid and tense, his wings shoving against the bed powerfully as he writhed and screamed in agony.
Kuno’s hooves flew to her mouth, and she took a step away from the bed, even as nurses rushed in to sedate her husband.
“W-what did I do?” Kuno asked quietly, ears splaying back, tears gathering in her eyes.
“You need to leave, ma’am,” one of the nurses said brusquely, pointing towards the door.
Kuno lowered her head, turning and leaving the room without another word.
Warden stared unblinkingly at the IV bag hanging above him, lulled into a complete stupor by the soft droning of the dialysis machine busily filtering his blood.
After several long minutes, he blinked.
Kuno caught the movement out of the corner of her eye, sitting up straighter and staring at him with an anxious expression tempered by her visible weariness.
“Warden?” Kuno asked cautiously, reaching out a hoof to try and find his own, but stopping before she contacted his fur, wary of hurting him again.
“K-Kuno?” Warden rasped.
Kuno was immediately at the side of the bed, forehooves resting on the edge of it, nearly touching it. “I’m here, Warden. I’m here! How do you feel?!”
“Feel like crap,” Warden said flatly, licking his lips slowly. “Throat is dry.”
“I can’t give you any water,” Kuno said, her ears splaying back slowly. “I’m not allowed…”
“What… happened?” Warden asked after a time, looking to be concentrating quite hard on his words.
“You died…” Kuno said quietly, her head lowering slightly. “But I… I brought you back.”
“Brought me back?” Warden repeated, confused.
“I healed you,” Kuno said quietly, peering at him with sad eyes. “I couldn’t let you go.”
“You did a really bad job,” Warden said with a quiet chuckle that turned into a dry, hacking cough.
“Me and Swarm put so much magic into you that it gave you magical poisoning…” Kuno admitted quietly looking away and biting her bottom lip. “I’m sorry, Warden. I should have let you go.”
“So that’s why it hurt so much?” Warden asked blankly.
Kuno nodded sadly. “The doctors explained it to me… basically, I pumped so much magic into you so quickly that it… uhm…” Kuno trailed off, looking for the right word. “It suffused your everything. Your body, your fur, your organs, and… and I forget,” Kuno said, scratching her cheek with a hoof sadly. “I can… call in a nurse to explain it to you better?”
“Please,” Warden rasped.
Kuno nodded sadly, pushing herself to her hooves and then heading out into the hallway. A nurse entered several moments later.
“Good afternoon, Warden. How are you feeling today?”
“Pain,” Warden said flatly.
“We’ve tapered off your medicine for now so that you can be lucid enough to talk,” the nurse explained with a faint smile. “I understand you need some explanations?”
Warden nodded, before wincing at the movement, teeth baring. “Why does everything hurt?”
“Magical poisoning,” the nurse explained simply. “There’s a very good reason we don’t bring everypony back from the dead. Magical poisoning is no joke, I’m afraid. Though to get a dose of magic high enough usually requires an alicorn.”
“Magical poisoning?” Warden asked blankly.
“Most unicorns know of it. It’s a condition where the magical potential in your cells reach a critical point. The magic starts to degrade the cells. It’s reversible, up to a certain point. Basically, the magic, instead of being carried around by your blood cells like oxygen or anything else, builds up and starts to directly affect the cells. It doesn’t behave like your usual run-of-the-mill sickness, because your body is constantly pumping blood around and moving the magic about it as it does. But long story short, the magic was degrading your liver, lungs, and kidney function, as well as directly connecting your nerve endings with a kind of electric magic.”
“I understood none of that,” Warden rasped.
The nurse gave a nod. “Well… look at this way. Your nerve endings work by sending tiiiny electrical signals back and forth which then tell your brain that you are feeling pain. The magic built up to such a point that it was overwhelming the natural electric conductivity and replacing it with magical electric impulses. Apparently, it’s the most painful sensation you’re capable of experience.”
“I don’t remember any of that… just aches,” Warden admitted, brow furrowing slowly.
“Well, of course you wouldn’t remember. That kind of pain is one of the most intense, beyond traumatic experiences you can ever have. Your mind natural blocks it out as a defense mechanism. Selective amnesia. You’re lucky you don’t remember, or you’d likely go insane.
Warden wrinkled his nose slowly. “Don’t feel lucky.”
“Oh you say that now,” the nurse chided with a warm smile. “Once we give you another hit of aurora you’ll be floating on a cloud.”
Warden’s eyes widened, and his pupils dilated. “A-aurora?”
“Our conventional remedies are all magical. They don’t work against magic poisoning,” the nurse explained calmly.
Warden tried to shake his head, before baring his teeth and growling in pain at the movement. “I can’t have aurora!”
“We know about your past… experiences with aurora. We’ll ween you off it, not to worry,” the nurse said with a smile and a nod.
“How long before I stop feeling… like I got hit by a boulder?” Warden asked with a strained expression. “I’m getting really sick of this whole pain thing.”
“Quite a while,” the nurse explained with a shake of her head, motioning towards the dialysis machine. “We can remove the magic from your bloodstream, but it happens in stages. And it doesn’t help that we can’t physically remove the magic in your soft tissue until it’s filtered into your bloodstream.”
“So much trouble…” Warden complained.
“Yes, bringing someone back from the dead with magic is generally a really, really bad idea,” the nurse chided. “You’re lucky a royal guard patrol saw the magic and arrived in time to restart your heart.”
“What?” Warden asked, confused.
“Your wife healed you, but she didn’t restart your heart. You were dead, for all intents and purposes. But the moment they tried to move you, you woke up and started screaming. We had to sedate you and shove a breathing tube down your throat to stop the screaming. And even then, you were in so much pain we had to keep upping the dosage to keep you unconscious, until even that stopped working and you screamed until you were coughing up blood.”
Warden winced slightly at that. “Sounds like it sucked.”
“I’m quite certain it did,” the nurse said with a short nod.
“How long before I can… move?” Warden asked hesitantly.
“Well, the dialysis is slowly filtering the magic out of your bloodstream. I’d give it another… month?” the nurse said thoughtfully.
Warden’s eyes widened slowly. “A m-month?”
The nurse nodded once. “Indeed. An entire month. You’re lucky. If we had got to a few minutes later then the damage to your liver and kidneys would have been irreversible. Though, to be perfectly honest, I wouldn’t take up drinking any time soon, if I was you.”
“My father will be positively crushed,” Warden said dryly.
“A doctor will be in later on to explain to you in finer details. There are some things you’ll need to know to manage your condition,” the nurse explained.
“M-my condition?” Warden asked, his ears slowly splaying back.
“Acute magical poisoning,” the nurse said bluntly. “It is, as with all serious medical conditions, no joke. But it’s no more unmanageable than certain types of diabetes.”
Warden heaved a long sigh, closing his eyes. “Why does everything hurt when I move?”
“Post-traumatic stress hypersensitivity,” came the explanation, as the nurse moved over to the bed and checked his IV. “The magic was firing your nerve endings literally for days on end. You went through a period of desensitisation, and now, hypersensitivity. Any physical contact will hurt. But don’t worry, we’ll dose you up with aurora until the magic is filtered out enough for you to move around on your own without crashing agony.”
“Thank you so very much,” Warden retorted, staring at the wall. “Can’t move. Have to be dosed up to even sleep or rest without agony…”
“Poor baby,” the nurse said, taking a needle and injecting something into his IV.
Immediately, Warden felt a lulling sense of calm overcome him, and he slowly relaxed, going slack.
“Now you rest up, and don’t go anywhere,” the nurse chided with a warm smile.
But Warden was already asleep.
Warden stirred weakly, giving a faint groan. His eyes fluttered open and he immediately pushed his head backwards, groaning in pain at the effort and the screaming of his nerve endings. A bright trickle of red blood was spilling from his nose, making a mess of the bed.
Kuno tutted, holding his head still with a hoof, starting to clean his nose with a moist washcloth.
Warden arched, biting down on his tongue and resisting the urge to scream in pain at the very mild physical contact.
Kuno was finished quickly and released his muzzle, and the pegasus visibly relaxed, head dropping back on to the now-soiled pillow. “Ow…”
“I know it hurts,” Kuno said with a deep frown, lifting her hoof to very, very gently stroke across his cheek.
Warden tensed and winced like he’d been struck with a whip.
“They say you’re out of the worst of it now. And they’ve dialed back the aurora so you can be coherent,” she soothed, gently touching at his brow with the moist cloth.
“How… how long?” Warden rasped, licking his lips to try and wet them.
“A month,” Kuno stated.
Warden winced. “A month…”
“An entire month,” Kuno confirmed, rolling her eyes slightly. “You act like this is the first time you ever woke up in hospital after a big chunk of your life disappeared.”
“You’re handling this a lot better than I expected,” Warden wheezed.
“I’ve had a lot of time to adjust,” Kuno said calmly, getting a clean washcloth and then holding it above his head. “Mouth open.”
Warden carefully opened his mouth, wincing slightly.
Kuno squeezed the washcloth, drizzling a small amount of water into his mouth.
Warden fairly purred, letting his swollen and dry tongue gyrate slowly against the inside of his mouth, coating it in the water, before he swallowed with some difficulty. He clenched his teeth, snorting faintly in the effort not to cry out in pain.
“Not disguised…” Warden observed, peering up at her.
“Well, there’s not much point to that now,” Kuno said with a shake of her head, sitting back down on the armchair that was beside his bed. It was strewn with various bits of rubbish. Empty candy wrappers, magazines, gauze, a half-empty styrofoam cup that had once held something that seemed to have been coffee. “They bought us all in. Me, you, Swarm… We were all pretty much out of it when they dragged us in here.”
Kuno pondered for a moment, scratching her chin with a hoof. “Swarm was the first to wake up. She was panicking and trying to wake us both up. But by that point, they were already trying to induce a coma in you, and their medicines weren’t working because they were magic-based and they were all being counteracted by my magic.”
“W-why were you in here?” Warden rasped.
“I almost killed myself saving you,” Kuno explained with a slight shake of her head. “I couldn’t even disguise myself when I got here… couldn’t for the first week, in fact.”
“So you and Swarm…?” Warden puzzled.
“We both pumped you full of every bit of magic we possibly could. Or, well… it was more refined than that,” Kuno corrected herself with a snort. “I just used a healing spell on you… the only one I knew. I just wanted to make you better… And well… it worked…” she finished with a sad kind of smile.
“I’m alive… after a fashion…” Warden admitted, licking his dry lips with his equally dry tongue. “Chrysalis?”
“Dead,” Kuno said flatly. “Dead and gone.”
“You’re sure?” Warden asked bluntly.
“I put a spike through that evil witch’s heart,” Kuno responded, just as blunt. “Most satisfying thing I ever did.”
“Even though she was your queen?” Warden queried.
“She stopped being my queen when she tried to ruin me and you,” Kuno said flatly, her ears splaying back and teeth baring in a reflexive angry expression. “But she’s gone now.”
“Good…” Warden muttered, heaving a heavy sigh. “How is Swarm?”
“Caught her kissing that colt from school on the way home from school,” Kuno said with a short nod and a wry smile.
“Kissing?!” Warden asked, straining. “She’s way too young for that! I’m gonna put that colt in one of these beds!”
Kuno rolled her eyes as that. “What’re you gonna do? Trip over him? Either way, she’s the one instigating it.”
“That… not good,” Warden said quietly.
“Of course it’s not good. But she has to explore the bounds of her talents on her own,” Kuno said with a soft nod. “At least she’s picked a colt too young to be world-wise, or I think she’d be getting some anatomy lessons far younger than most fillies do.”
Warden blanched. “That’s not even funny to joke about!”
“I’m not joking,” Kuno said with a worried frown. “It’s a very real danger. But I don’t know if she’s old enough for that talk.”
“Well if she’s old enough for you to worry then she’s old enough to have the talk!” Warden groaned, shifting slightly.
“Are you quite certain she’s ready for the safe-sex talk?” Kuno asked blankly.
“No, no!” Warden protested, shaking his head vigorously. “She’s ready for the ‘don’t-ever-ever-ever-ever-have-sex-talk! And by extension the ‘sex-is-dirty-and-disgusting-and-you-don’t-want-anything-to-do-with-it-talk’!”
Kuno stared at him for several long moments, before asking delicately, “Warden… Who are her parents?”
Warden paused for a moment, and then gave a defeated sigh. “Touche.”
“How do you feel?” Kuno asked sympathetically.
“Like shit run over twice,” Warden said bluntly.
“Cursing, that’s new,” Kuno observed.
“It should impress upon you just how bad I ache,” Warden pointed out.
“I’d crawl up there and give you a hug, but I’m afraid I’d hurt you quite badly,” Kuno said with a wrinkled nose.
“Just do it anyway…” Warden said, ears splaying back slowly. “Please… I kinda need a hug right now…”
Kuno frowned at that, biting her bottom lip, before carefully pulling herself up onto the bed, forehooves spread out to keep from touching him.
Warden snorted faintly, rolling underneath her and wrapping his hooves around her shoulders, tugging her down against him. He winced heavily at the contact, arching under her and baring his teeth, but held her firmly against him, squeezing tightly. “Thank you… thank you for bringing me back.”
Kuno wrapped her hooves tentatively around her husband, squeezing him lightly in response, pushing her nose against his neck firmly. “Thank you for coming back…” she whispered softly. “I… I couldn’t… I just couldn’t go on liv—”
Warden placed a hoof over her mouth. “I know, Kuno. I know. We’ll probably discuss your unhealthy dependence on my well-being some time when I’m not aurora-addled.”
“You… you forgive me for letting them put that in you, right?” Kuno asked quietly.
“Of course I forgive you,” Warden soothed, leaning up to carefully kiss her chin. “But… I can’t make any promises on what I’ll do or say when I’m coming down off it… it’s… well it’s not very pretty.”
“It’s going to be bad, isn’t it?” Kuno asked softly.
Warden nodded gently, squeezing her a little tighter with his hooves. “Just… just remember that the person I am when I’ll be… just… it’s not me. No matter what I say, or what I do…”
“You fought a queen for me,” Kuno said quietly, nudging her nose against his chin gently.
Warden winced at the nudge, before nodding. “Indeed I did. Though that was for a lot of reasons.”
Kuno placed a hoof over his mouth. “Shush. You fought her for me. Don’t ruin my fantasies of my knight in shining armor.”
“If I’m part of any of your fantasies then you have more issues than unhealthy dependence,” Warden said with a faint laugh.
“I’m not allowed to fantasize about my husband?” Kuno asked with a soft snort.
“Not according to any standup-up comic ever. You’re also not allowed to like your in-laws. Though, considering you recently killed the closest thing I have to an in-law, I guess I live up to that part of the stereotype,” Warden admitted, frowning thoughtfully.
“She did kill you…” Kuno said quietly. “And I avenged you. Pretty swiftly, I might add.”
“I don’t even remember much of that,” Warden admitted, frowning and rubbing his temple. “I just remember… Swarm. And not little Swarm. Big Swarm. My ex-wife.”
“Chrysalis was pretending to be her, yes,” Kuno said with a short nod.
Warden frowned deeply, looking away. “How in tartarus did I fall for that? There were death records… I buried her. I… I touched her cold, lifeless body before they put it in the ground. There’s just no way she could have still been alive. Not to mention that Swarm was an earth pony. That thing was a unicorn…”
“She was the queen, Warden. Changeling hierarchy is a meritocracy. She was queen because she had the ability, and the strength… It’s small wonder that she duped you. It’s a miracle you managed to break out of her grasp. If she researched her target a little better, then you wouldn’t have stood a ghost of a chance.”
“Why did she even attack me?” Warden asked blankly. “What could she possibly have to gain from making me hate you?”
“Petty revenge,” Kuno said, wrinkling her nose. “She wanted back at me for putting her in the dungeon.”
“How did she even get out?!” Warden growled, squeezing with his hooves and then wincing and relaxing the grasp.
Kuno frowned deeply. “A wall of silence has gone up at the castle… They want to give me a medal for ridding the world of Chrysalis, but they won’t reveal how she escaped. We may never know.”
“A medal, huh?” Warden asked, squinting at his wife.
“A medal,” Kuno said with a nod. “Presented by Celestia, Luna, and Cadance in a big, terribly loud ceremony.”
“Sounds like just the place a changeling would want to stand front-and-centre,” Warden said with a faint smile.
“I told them straight that I wasn’t leaving this hospital until you got better,” Kuno stated flatly, leaning in to kiss his nose gently.
Warden squinted up at her, licking her nose in response. “You can have a life, you know.”
“You are my life,” Kuno responded instantly.
“So, you went to all the trouble of healing my gaping chest wound and couldn’t even fix my hoof?” Warden said, wiggling his bad hoof at her. “I vaguely remember something sharp and pointy somewhere in the region of my lung.”
“Punctured your lung,” Kuno said with a deep frown. “And I was just trying to keep you alive… or, well, make you come back to life. I didn’t realise it would… well, screw up your life so bad.”
“I’m getting better,” Warden said defensively.
“And if you don’t get injected with medicine every day for the next five years the latent magic in your body will degrade your cells from the inside-out and kill you painfully,” Kuno stated flatly.
Warden’s eyes widened. “W-what?”
“I’m not joking, Warden,” Kuno said seriously. “Magical poisoning is a terrible, terrible sickness.”
“I don’t like needles,” Warden stated with a soft whine in his voice. “I really, really don’t like needles.”
“Well you’re going to get used to them awful fast,” Kuno said quietly, ears lowering. “Still forgive me?”
Warden bit his bottom lip, before giving a soft sigh. “I’m annoyed at daily needles… but at least I’m still alive. And I can fly again! Woo boy was that euphoria short-lived.”
“I noticed that,” Kuno said with a thoughtful hum. “I’d like to get you up into the clouds one of these days.”
“If you even think of putting your hooves all over me while my body is screaming with every single touch, then I’m going to bite you,” Warden warned.
“Already thinking about it,” Kuno said with a hum, leaning in to kiss his nose.
“Stop it then,” Warden whined, pushing his hooves against her chest firmly. “You’re not allowed to fantasize about me unless I can at least join in.”
“You can fantasize,” Kuno said thoughtfully. “But you can’t act on it.”
Warden rolled his eyes, pushing his hooves against her a little more firmly, before pausing, frowning deeply.
“What’s wrong?” Kuno asked, peering down into his eyes.
“My hoof…” Warden said, his frown deepening.
Kuno immediately pushed her weight up off of his body. “Sorry.”
“No…” Warden said, chewing on his bottom lip slowly. “Help me up.”
“What?” Kuno asked blankly.
“Help. Me. Up.” Warden pursed his lips, raising an eyebrow. “You know, so I stand on my hooves.”
Kuno frowned at that, before sliding a hoof under him to roll him onto his own hooves.
Warden winced at the contact, teeth baring in pain as he helped push his form over to stagger drunkenly onto his hooves. His limbs splayed outwards for balance, and he panted heavily, while the machines monitoring him started to beep more rapidly with his accelerating heartbeat.
“Are you okay?” Kuno asked, worried.
Warden nodded, putting his weight down on first one forehoof, and then the other, his eyes widening slowly.
“Does it hurt?” Kuno asked, perplexed.
“Y-yes…” Warden said quietly, swallowing thickly. “B-but… Not my hoof. My hoof doesn’t hurt like it used to. They hurt the same.”
Kuno blinked at him once. “What?”
“M-my hoof is fixed,” Warden said quietly, his tone strangled. He sat down heavily, staring down at his formerly-bad hoof with wide eyes, a silent tear coursing down his cheek. “I-it’s healed. I can… I can walk again.”
“Are you sure it’s not the aurora?” Kuno asked gently, hugging him from behind, lightly nuzzling into his wings.
Warden shook his head firmly. “It’s not the aurora. I can walk again!”
“But… how?” Kuno asked bluntly. “Warden, it makes no sense.”
“When you healed me,” Warden responded, chewing on his tongue thoughtfully. “It had to be when you healed me…”
“But the amount of magic required to reset that kind of injury…” Kuno retorted.
“Would give somepony severe magical poisoning, wouldn’t it?” Warden said, holding up the two lines that led from his hoof to the dialysis machine.
“I… I’ll wait until the doctors confirm it,” Kuno said guardedly.
Warden shook his head, reaching back to scoop her against his side, nuzzling firmly against her, barely wincing. “I don’t need the doctors to tell me anything. I can walk again!”
Kuno gave a helpless smile, nudging against his neck gently and pouting. “But… I won’t be able to beat you in races any more!”
“You mean you won’t be able to cheat to get first prize by racing a cripple,” Warden corrected with a wry grin.
“Cheating, racing, all’s fair in love and war, right?” Kuno asked with her most innocent smile.
“Right, right,” Warden said, before giving a pained shudder. “Now help me back down, I need to collapse immediately.”
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Hell yes
Was waiting for this for so long and it was definantly worth the wait! Keep up the great work!
Great chapter. But I NEED to know just how Chrysalis got out. She clearly had Shining Armor entranced, and then suddenly he's out of the picture! What exactly is the alicorn club hiding?!
Poor Warden.
seriously though, glad you updated. Nothing super interesting happened, but you do need to explain what's happening, so great job. 
Thanks for the update, It will be interesting to read what happens next, also thanks for the fast update.
You were right: you aren't that mean.
You're much worse.
Now, instead of dying, he will go through a month of being tethered to a hospital bed, a few days of hell, five years of pain, and damage to his internal organs. Kuno will suffer with him as long as she stays by his side, and Swarm will have to live with her father being unavailable when she apparently needs him most.
As it has been said, life is crueler than death.
So... typical Monday?
Oh poor warden........
By the goddess yes
Gotta admit... it's kinda convenient that his hoof was fixed as well. It's not a bad thing, just... how to put this without sounding like an asshole?
I can't. It's Deus Ex Machina right there. The broken pegasus was what made Warden be Warden. Now... let's go back to Swarm and kissing a colt.
3869472 Better question: Where is SA now? Remember, he left with Chrysalis, so he isn't in the castle.
You were right: you aren't that mean.
You're much worse.
Now, instead of dying, he will go through a month of being tethered to a hospital bed, a few days of hell, five years of pain, and damage to his internal organs. Kuno will suffer with him as long as she stays by his side, and Swarm will have to live with her father being unavailable when she apparently needs him most.
As it has been said, life is crueler than death.
Oh, goody. Happy ending. *sighs* It's a sure sign that I've become a hard, mean, bad person that this happy ending is unsatisfying...
3869594 It's not a deus ex machina in the strictest sense. It's more 'convenient'. His hoof is fixed, but he's also broken again in the same breath.
3869605 You think this is the end?
“Caught her kissing that colt from school on the way home from school,” Kuno said with a short nod and a wry smile.
“Kissing?!” Warden asked, straining. “She’s way too young for that! I’m gonna put that colt in one of these beds!”
Kuno rolled her eyes as that. “What’re you gonna do? Trip over him? Either way, she’s the one instigating it.”
“That… not good,” Warden said quietly.
Love that scene.
I wonder if Shining or one of the guards is involve with Cee's escape. Shining has that Stockholm Syndrome in one of the chaps right ?
Lol total House reference.
3869634
shining wasnt the prisoner, i think its called something else.
This ain't over yet. Rather depressing to end a story with, "Hey, you're in pain! Constant, unbelievable pain! But don't worry! We got you hopped up on a highly addictive drug! Enjoy spending the next five years of your life getting what feels like endless paper cuts with lemon juice poured over them! The End. P.S. Your daughter just got pregnant!"
Last chapter has to end the same way Star Wars: A New Hope ended...Everyone knows this!
God, this sounds like radiation poisoning on steroids.
3869626 Of this arc, certainly. The issue of Chrysalis has been resolved, so this is the end of that. But end of this story? Of course not; you'd go stark raving mad if you couldn't have Kuna hitting Warden and demanding sex.
3869861 It's a cross between radiation poisoning and alcohol poisoning.
3869860 Definitely not the ending :twilightsmile That 'addicting' thing is gonna play into the story, of course.
3869797 I've never seen a single episode of House.
3869873 hmmm....addiction, eh?
3869594 You're right! Now instead of just his hoof, his whole body's broken!
An Update!!!
4.bp.blogspot.com/-CXSKdphf2hs/UVj4098x0HI/AAAAAAAACuI/g2TPTeB6fbY/s1600/949.png
Yay! He's going to live!
It seems that this arc is over, but no story ever truly ends...
3870187 But it begins an entirely new arc!
YAY! Love the update times, it lets me get some boring stuff done then knowing that there is something awesome on its way. Feeling sorry for Warden though, but maybe Kuno can help with his needle problem?
Why can't we give a up vote twice?
I am currently reading like 20-30 stories wotj an incomplete tag and this is the only thing that updated in the Lady 4 days.
3869626 0-media-cdn.foolz.us/ffuuka/board/tg/image/1365/37/1365377539841.gif
Speaking as a person who has diabetes, ONLY 5 years of injections?
Damn lucky, that.
Aw, they're together and happy again. I feel warm and fuzzy.
3870490 I'm going to go out on a limb here and say 'your phone hates you'.
I was kind of disappointed by the lack of reaction by Warden. It really seemed underwhelming after all of that suspense you've built up overtime. I was really disappointed you let it all go to waste...
3870677 His nerve endings are fried and he's currently in an aurora-addled haze of euphoria mingled with agony. What were you expecting? Dancing?
3870696 Naw, dancing would be a little too far-fetched, even for my mind! I guess after all of that hype, I was expecting more of a reaction along the lines of him being surprised or angry mostly, especially since he did die. I would've even taken a little bit of insanity, but hey, I honestly didn't expect his reaction of "Oh, I'm alive? Sweet." That took me be surprise
.
But, tl;dr You can't please everyone, especially me :P It was still a good chapter, and even though that caught me as a little off, I liked it!
Man... Warden can never catch a break! I guess on the up side he is running out of things to break.
Drug addict father
Murderous, yet loving mother
Hybrid daughter
Can they be considered a "broken" family yet?
Back from the dead!
Sorry couldn't resist.
i dont know if warden its getting worse health after every arc or its always a balance like you heal you wings and hoof and get magic poisoning for the next 5 years plus the drug addiction
it makes you wonder if he is going to reach old age and when he reach it how bad its going to be also M poisining its like RAD poisoning by the infertibility or just the nerve damage
Well... Warden came out of it pretty rough, but everyone lived (well, at least the family did). So I can breathe easy now.
3870588 Are you sure? I have used the expression:"Lady 4 days" before.
It took you long enough... Good chapter though.
I just wish you would hurry up and write more chapters.
(I have serious patience issues...)
3871116 This isn't really 'fanart' per se, but I fucking love it nonetheless!
I think I should preface every trollish thing I do with that picture.
3869472
Well, Shining did sorta knock out the guard on duty, take the keys, and let Chrysalis out some chapters ago. That's not the kind of thing you'd go around shouting in public.
"Hey, everypony! My husband was mind-controlled right under the noses of our wise and intelligent leaders because we left him alone with some manipulative conniving succubug for five straight years, even though we totally expected this and took every precaution to counteract it! Who would've seen that coming, am I right?"
3869867
Kuno's twin sister Kuna is moving in on Warden now? This just gets worse and worse!
3870878
Wait, we didn't think of them as broken back when they were 'crippled drug-farmer father, known murderer and alien mother, and unusually-mature unholy-hybrid-monster daughter'?
Well, on the bright side, if Kuno doesn't get Warden pummeled again in the next five years, he'll be able to walk and fly again, just like he used to do before he ever met Kuno. So that's good, I think. Kuno has just been wonderful for Warden's health, hasn't she?
As for Shining Armor, the way this story's been going, either he's been shoved into a pod and nopony's found him yet, or he's still under Chrysalis' influence and is alternatively bawling his eyes out and trying to kill Cadance/Warden's family/everypony in sight. Who wants to take bets?
Man, epic medicinal action aside, these two cannot catch a break!
Hmm. I'm guessing the next story will be about Warden's magic poisoning, Swarm's new boyfriend, and zombie Chrysalis harnessing the power of Tartarus to take over Equestria
Yikes, Warden just can't stay uncrippled for long, huh. At least this time the condition has an end date, even if that date is five years off, and with the new mansion in Canterlot they won't be living out in the boonies any more.
But what about Shining?
Hooray!
Warden can walk and fly again!
(With less or no pain)
Cliffhanger resolved. Thank you, Anonymous Pegasus, I can now resume my life.
Needles... Why did it have to be needles
? It's heart warming knowing warden can walk and fly again, and the typical father routine of "if he touches my daughter I will kill that boy" that every father dreads is a real cute addition.
once again an awesome chapter good sir. 
Warden sounds like my car!!! because if I fix something something else will break.
please continue with update I really love your story!!!!