The Warden: Part 2, The Crusader and The Warden

by FortressLegacy

Chapter 12: Uncovered Anger

Following their narrow escape, Apple Bloom took a few minutes to clean up the Warden's wound on his back as best as she could. Upon doing so and taking a few more minutes to eat a quick lunch, the two ponies resumed their journey.

They exited the forest near the ravine and before long, they were back in the valley meadows. Despite his wound having been treated, the Warden's pace was clearly slower than it was before the encounter with the timber wolves. Still, they seemed to be making good time; the mountains in front of them seemed to be closer than the ones which they had come from yesterday.

The adrenaline rush from their escape had finally run its course after about an hour. As her thoughts slowed down and turned away from the timber wolves, she began to think about their conversation that had been interrupted. Specifically, she recalled something odd that the Warden had said; a passing remark on how his grandfather had been sent into exile.

Why would the pony he called Equestria's greatest war hero be sent into exile? What happened? Who exiled him?

The fact that the Warden seemed to immediately try and redact what he said also gave her reason to think. He clearly meant what he said the first time, so why try to dismiss it?

Inevitably, the temptation to probe deeper grew.

"So…" She began, trying to be as nonchalant as possible. "Didn't ya say that Hightower was exiled or somethin'?"

Initially, the Warden didn't say anything, instead shooting a mildly sharp glance back at her before looking back ahead. After a moment of silence, he spoke.

"I didn't mean to say that out loud."

That confirmed what she suspected.

"Well, ya did."

"Indeed." The Warden said bluntly, still looking off ahead.

Apple Bloom spent a few minutes in silence, waiting and hoping that he would elaborate further, to no avail.

"... Why was he exiled?" She asked, having eventually run out of patience.

The Warden gave a deep, somewhat forced breath before hesitantly giving his answer.

"I'll tell you, on one condition: You don't start mindlessly defending Princess Celestia."

Apple Bloom took a moment to process this request. It seemed to be an odd one to make, and it caused a bit of apprehension to start building within her. Was he about to start saying bad things about Princess Celestia again?

Still, she found herself nodding in reply, silently agreeing to his terms.

He noticed this, and after a moment's thought, he began.

"So, do you remember what I said about what happened after the end of the Changeling War?"

Apple Bloom nodded again.

"Well, what I said about what Hightower did after the war was half true." He admitted. "After his father's retirement, my grandfather took his place as commander in chief. Although this was a relatively peaceful time, the royal sisters clashed with Hightower several times. For the most part, it was because of Princess Celestia."

Apple Bloom tilted her head and her eyes narrowed slightly. He was accusing Princess Celestia of poor behavior again. Still, she remained silent as the Warden continued.

"Regardless, Hightower remained the commander of the military, until one decisive day. You see, there was a gang of dragons that were raiding settlements on the Equestrian frontier, and steadily working their way further and further into more populated areas. They were pillaging villages, burning them down and taking anything of value in them, leaving nothing but charred ruins and terrified survivors. Hightower and his forces had several opportunities to fight them off, but the princess forbade any sort of fighting."

"That ain't really that much of a surprise, actually." Apple Bloom remarked. "Princess Twilight said that Princess Celestia always taught her that seekin' out a fight before tryin' to negotiate ain't the right thing to do."

The Warden shook his head, causing Apple Bloom to feel slight irritation.

"It cannot be denied that the princess was trying to avoid a fight, but it was only because she saw an opportunity to have her way, not because of diplomacy."

The irritation in Apple Bloom began to spin up in intensity. Was he really just going to keep on slandering Princess Celestia like this?

She momentarily closed her eyes and focused on her breathing, reining in her urge to speak up. She made a promise to not do so, after all.

"After a few more raids and unsuccessful attempts at negotiating, Hightower finally made the right choice." The Warden explained, continuing his tale. "Going behind the princess' back, he led a team made up of former members of his Rogue Brigade against the dragons, and sent them running back to the dragonlands. Finally, the dragons' reign of terror over Equestria was over."

Apple Bloom's agitation died down a bit. Sure, Hightower disobeyed the princess, but it seemed to be a necessary action to her.

"Of course, this meant that he had played straight into the princess' hooves."

This remark undid any reduction of Apple Bloom's consternation.

"She finally had the justification she needed to get rid of him once and for all. As soon as he returned, she put him on trial, found him guilty of insubordination, and had him exiled. She would have executed him if she could, but he was simply too popular. Still, she sent him away into exile, out beyond Equestria's borders at the time. It was during this time that he found-"

Apple Bloom felt a surge of anger flood her heart. The urge to speak out against his slander of the princess suddenly overwhelmed her, drowning out her need to keep her promise. Was he seriously saying that the princess let those dragons raid all those ponies just to get rid of Hightower?!

Forget the Warden's request! She had to say something!

"Alright, you jus' hold on an applebuckin' minute!" Apple Bloom protested, cutting the Warden off. "Princess Celestia would never, ever do anythin' so selfish!"

The Warden turned his head around and glared at her, his green eyes piercing her own.

"You agreed to not do this." He said, his tone taking on an intimidating aura.

Apple Bloom paused. True, she had agreed to not rush to Celestia's defense; but his accusations were just beyond unbelievable. The princess deserved better!

"Ah'm sorry, but there ain't any way that's true!" She said in an exasperated fashion. "It jus' ain't in her nature!"

"Really?" The Warden asked, a hint of anger beginning to show in his voice. "What would you know?"

"Ah know that she's kind, friendly, gentle, and mighty wise! Ah know that she abides by friendship, and doesn't jump to conclusions about ponies she doesn't get along with!" Apple Bloom declared, shooting a glare right back at the Warden.

The Warden's brow fell, and his gaze intensified.

"So, basically you don't know squat. Considering you've been spoon fed a whole set of lies which she created, I shouldn't be surprised."

"What lies?!" Apple Bloom asked, raising her voice. "Every time Ah bring her or Princess Luna up, all you seem to do is accuse 'em of somethin' or other! The only lies Ah'm hearin' are comin' from you!"

The Warden stopped abruptly, almost causing Apple Bloom to tumble off of his back. Gradually, his breaths grew more intense and more frequent, and Apple Bloom felt his body tense up.

She felt a sense of dread overcome her. Why did she have to speak her mind? How was he going to react?

Slowly, insidiously, he turned his head towards her, staring at her with a gaze that could only be described as furious.

"You think I'm lying, do you?" He asked, his voice terrifyingly subdued. "Fine. How about I tell you the truth, so that you will no longer be underneath any further delusions, huh? Get off."

He kneeled down, and Apple Bloom gingerly slid off. She picked herself up, and took a few steps back. The dread within her was growing even more. She had made him angry, that much was certain.

She looked timidly up at the stallion, who towered over her with an intense expression on his face.

"You want to know what Celestia and Luna did to me?" He asked, still sounding eerily calm.

"Ah- U-uhh…" Apple Bloom stuttered, the full realization that she had crossed a line becoming clear.

"Don't you?!" He barked, his voice reaching an intensity that Apple Bloom had never heard from him before.

She flinched, closing her eyes as she nodded. Fear pierced her heart, fear of what he was going to say.

The Warden inhaled sharply, and began to speak in a quieter voice.

"Celestia was a petty, power hungry dictator, who didn't care at all what happened to anypony else as long as she got what she wanted." He began. "She wanted nothing but groveling yes-ponies beneath her whom she could control. My grandfather wasn't so submissive, so she got rid of him."

He ground one of his hooves into the dirt, and after taking a sharp breath, he spoke through clenched, bared teeth.

"But that was just the beginning. Because of that, I grew up in exile. I lost my mother, and I had to get away from my father because he didn't treat me like a son."

Apple Bloom opened her eyes, processing what he had just said.

His father didn't care for him?

She felt her heart twist a bit. She didn't have any memory of her father at all, and she couldn't imagine having a father who didn't love her.

Meanwhile, the Warden continued, his voice gradually growing louder and more terrifying.

"I managed to get away, and found a mare who loved me so much, she was willing to help me heal and become a better stallion. We had a daughter whom we both loved dearly!"

He began to pace around, stomping the ground with every step, causing the soil to shake a bit.

"Do you know what happened to them?! Nightmare Moon took them away right in front of me, banishing them to some random universe and banishing me to some other forsaken world!"

Apple Bloom shrunk back, her breaths becoming sharper as fear took hold. She felt her eyes begin to grow misty as her thoughts and emotions became a tangled mess.

Still, her thoughts did dwell momentarily upon the pictures that she had found in the cottage. Namely the picture of the Warden as a colt with his father, and the picture of the Warden with the mare and the filly.

Then it struck her.

NM.

Nightmare Moon.

The notes on the backs of the pictures was an indication of time, using Nightmare Moon as a point in time!

"It gets better!" The Warden hissed. "Do you know who drove Luna over the edge to become Nightmare Moon? Celestia did. She drove her own sister to become a monster and kill the ones I loved the most! Why? Because she couldn't stand the thought of possibly sharing the spotlight with her own sister!"

He paused for a moment, catching his breath, his gaze becoming fixed on Apple Bloom. A few tears began to fall from Apple Bloom's eyes as she shrunk back even more.

"I saw Celestia push her sister away, and I was there when Nightmare Moon sent them away to die!" He roared, taking a step towards Apple Bloom. "I was there! You don't get to call me a liar when they were literally ripped away from under me!"

Apple Bloom stepped back, tears falling from her closed eyes.

"A-ah'm sorry!" She cried in desperation. "Ah d-didn't mean-"

"Of course you didn't!" The Warden interrupted, his voice dripping with fury. "Because the long list of injustices by Celestia doesn't end there! Like the sniveling, cowardly slug of a pony that she is, she censored out huge swaths of our history to not only erase her wrongdoings, but my entire family history as well! She projects this disgusting persona of perfection, acting like she is above reproach and pretending that she isn't the most repulsive, silver tongued creature to ever disgrace our world with her very existence!"

The Warden fell silent, his voice echoing around them and gradually fading away.

Then he spoke again, his voice still revealing intense anger, but also more hoarse as well.

"So, do you know why I hate them? Do you know why I tried to kill them?!"

Apple Bloom inhaled sharply and took another step back, unable to answer before the stallion resumed.

"Because Celestia is an insidious fool who fabricated a situation to banish my grandfather, who drove her own sister mad with jealousy, and who decided to lie to her subjects for centuries in order to remain on the throne which she had built on lies, blood, and innocent lives! As for Nightmare Moon, she killed the two ponies whom I loved the most!"

He gave a furious growl, turning his back to Apple Bloom and stepping away.

"I spent ten years in that other universe, and the only thing keeping me sane was the hope that I would see my wife and daughter again. But do you know what I found after I found a way back?! Not only were my wife and daughter long gone, but both sisters were still on their thrones, acting like nothing had even happened!"

Apple Bloom was at a loss for words. She simply remained where she was, trying as hard as she could to not completely break down.

At long last, the Warden seemed to take a controlled breath. He stood silent and motionless for over a minute, slowly regaining control of his composure.

Then, he spoke in a manner that was a lot quieter than before, but also a bit hoarse as well, which compelled Apple Bloom to look up at him.

"So," He began, wiping his eyes with a foreleg; "if you still doubt my word, consider the evidence. The Elements of Harmony have rejected both of the sisters because of their evildoing, they have been very vague about my reason for attacking them, and most ponies wouldn't try to kill them for no reason at all. They took my family, and I hate them for it. Should I have tried to kill them? No. But I have a feeling that most ponies would have tried to do the same."

Apple Bloom couldn't speak. She could only look in disbelief at the stallion standing before her.

As much as she didn't want to believe it, the evidence seemed damning.

It was odd that nopony seemed to know why Celestia had lost the ability to use the Elements of Harmony, even after Luna lost hers clearly because of her fall.

It was also odd how the main six seemed to work around any questions regarding the Warden's reason for attacking Canterlot.

Only a truly evil creature would try to kill the sisters without an understandable reason.

But the Warden wasn't evil. He had saved her too many times for her to think of him as being evil.

He had a reason for snapping and attacking the sisters, and his rage-fuelled explanation seemed to fill in the blanks.

There was also another piece of evidence that seemed to fit, however.

The pictures.

The captions on each made sense, showing how long before the coming of Nightmare Moon they were taken. It would also explain why the Warden seemed to have a happy family in the last one, but was alone now.

Plus, she was certain that he didn't know that she had found them in that nightstand. His explanation seemed to align somewhat with them regardless, only adding more credence to his claims.

He was likely telling the truth.

But if he was, then what about the sisters?

Celestia wasn't at all who Apple Bloom thought she was, in the likely case that he was being truthful; and Luna was a murderer.

The sensation of betrayal and dread tore at her from the inside, causing her to shed tears once again.

However, these feelings were not solely caused by the princesses.

With a feeling of despair, she came to an unpleasant realization.

Her trust in him had been severely damaged.

He had just lost his temper at her, causing her to feel a deep fear which she had rarely felt before.

She was afraid of him.

The Warden kneeled down, silently indicating for her to get on.

She sniffed, wiped her shimmering eyes, and shook her head.

"Ah'll walk." She croaked, looking down as she backed away.

The Warden's eyes softened a bit, but he didn't say a word. He merely stood up, turned in the direction they were headed, and began to walk.

Apple Bloom took a shuddering, trembling breath, standing back up. Then, keeping her gaze fixed on the ground, she began to hobble after him, taking care to keep her distance.

---

Not a single word was spoken between them for the rest of the day. In complete silence, the two made their way to the foot of the eastern stretch of the Unicorn Range. The grassy plains and patches of temperate forests gradually gave way to evergreens and rocky terrain as the sun set behind the mountains on the western horizon. When the sun had disappeared, they set up camp once again, and they ate a quick meal.

As they sat around a small fire that the Warden had built, Apple Bloom was thinking about his outburst earlier.

Did she deserve it?

He did warn her to not speak out in defense of the princess, but she did so anyway.

Although her rational side told her repeatedly that she was not at fault, she still could not help but feel as if she were to blame. She had been asking a lot of questions without any concern for the Warden's feelings, after all.

Still, his outburst was seemingly out of nowhere. It escalated far beyond what she could have anticipated.

Regardless, she felt as if she had trespassed upon a part of his life that he didn't wish to discuss.

An urge to apologize began to arise.

"Mister Warden?" She asked meekly, looking at him sitting across from her.

He didn't move a muscle, looking off in some other direction, refusing to acknowledge the sorrowful filly.

"Ah- Ah'm so sorry for makin' ya angry earlier. Is there anythin' Ah can do to make it up to you?"

He shook his head.

"Just be quiet." He said bluntly. "I've had enough questions for one day."

Apple Bloom felt a few tears begin to well up. She felt awful about the whole thing. After all, he didn't have to go so far out of his way to rescue her. He risked his life repeatedly to save her, and had put up with so much in order to get her home. Now, she had caused him to blow up at her.

She didn't say another word. She merely wrapped herself up in her poncho, and walked a short distance away. Now, she wanted nothing more than to just get to sleep. Tomorrow, she would be back in Ponyville, and she would be able to put all this behind her. She curled up and closed her tearful eyes, her heart longing to forget the Warden's outburst and finally make it home.

---

"Could it be-e-e-e-e?"

"No way…"

"I think it isssss!"

Those voices were eerily familiar.

Apple Bloom opened her eyes. It was still night, that much was clear. The fire had gone out, and the moon was almost overhead. A few hours must have passed since she had gone to sleep.

"Haha! He isssss helplesssss!"

"Finally, a decent meal! A full grown stallion, and a pretty hefty one at that!"

"Quick! Le-e-e-et's e-e-e-eat him up!"

That didn't sound good at all.

Slowly, Apple Bloom rolled over to see what was talking.

When she saw it, her heart froze.

No wonder it sounded familiar.

It was a chimera, and it had the Warden in its grasp.

Comments

[ProgAltRocker]

This is a really nice chapter. Glad to see Apple Bloom may be doing what I hoped would happen, helping heal the Warden's heart.

Side note: if the wife and filly were sent to another dimension, there are a couple rather powerful magic users in Ponyville that could help in locating which one if only to bring some closure.