Fruition
Kuno stared at the dark wall of her room.
Warden had brought her back into the room an hour previously, from what she assumed could only be his bedroom. Kuno had feigned sleep, while delighting in the sensation of her strength slowly returning. The gnawing in her stomach had receded, and was lingering on the knife’s edge of pain and agony. It hurt to move, but she was healing. And she was getting stronger.
It would appear that the pegasus was more fond of his captive than he let on.
Kuno had been staring at the wall opposite the magic mirror for the better part of an hour because she was listening with every fibre of her being for the sounds of Warden moving about the house. She had been certain she felt the vibrations of him heading for his bedroom to sleep for the night. But she had to be absolutely certain he wasn’t watching at the magic mirror before she made her move.
When she was certain that Warden was in his bedroom, Kuno quietly rolled over onto her hooves and slipped off the bed. With her wings free up, she twisted her hoof to rest underneath her wing, and then stretching the limb out so that the spring fell from underneath and onto her hoof. The changeling wrinkled her nose at the sensation of the spiral shape that had been etched into the membrane there. Her wings were far less fragile than they appeared. Although malleable in the centre, the outer edges were hard enough that some changelings had been known to whittle the forward edges into blades.
With the spring in hand, Kuno began the delicate process of unwinding it. There was a surprising amount of steel in that short coil, and Kuno was glad. She would need all she could get.
After she had the spring unwound, she straightened out the lengths as best she could, and then began to neatly fold it. She wiggled the pieces in place carefully, over and over again, until the wire itself gave in to the constant deforming and snapped in half. Three times she did this, separating the wire into four distinct segments.
The changeling then began to shape the wire, folding each piece in half and then twisting it tightly, using teeth, hoof, and even part of the sink tap to get the spirals nice and neat. Once she had the four pieces in the right shape, she perused them carefully, selecting the two that were the best for what she wanted.
The two pieces that she selected, now rigid and straight, were tucked carefully back under her wing for safekeeping, and the other two pieces were stashed under her mattress in case she was found out.
“One of them to find, one for me to keep,” Kuno whispered to herself, half because of smug exposition, and half because she just wanted to hear her own voice.
With her tools in place, the changeling dropped herself back down onto her bed and then began to fiddle with the lock that still weighed heavily on the collar around her neck. That was perhaps Warden’s first mistake: giving her time to work at her own lock. He should have taken the lock with him each time he left her alone.
Kuno laid herself out on her side, freeing up her hooves, and then held up the two pieces of twisted wire, inserting them by feel into the padlock and beginning to jiggle them around slowly and carefully. It would take a lot of trial and error to get the correct combination of pressures to unlock the padlock, but she was patient, and she had all night.
By morning, Kuno had managed to unlock the padlock at her neck a total of five separate times. She was becoming quite good at it, and the last try only took her five minutes to set the tumblers right and get it to spring open. The victory had cost her one of her picks though, snapped when she twisted and turned it too hastily.
Unfortunately, that was all the practise she could afford. Celestia’s Brilliance was rising in the east, and she had run out of time.
Kuno carefully placed her two picks back in that little nook between her wing and her back, pressing her wing down so that the membranes would deform over them and keep them in place. With that done, she retrieved the broken pick, and the single remaining whole pick, and then rolled over to face the mirror, beginning to work at her lock again.
The changeling was unsure how long she lay like that, fruitlessly wiggling the picks back and forth in a rough approximation of lockpicking. The broken lock pick she had stuffed deep into the lock, where it would be difficult to extract, and she was feigning tugging at it.
The door opened to the room, and Kuno stiffened for the merest of moments, before calming her breathing and trying to still her racing heart. Her neck muscles quivered as she suppressed the urge to turn her head towards the sound, and she feigned continued deafness. Doggedly, her hooves continued to work at the lock, wiggling the picks back and forth as though trying her very, very best to unlock it.
A hoof touched her side, and she yelped, spinning around and stuffing her hooves underneath herself, lowering her nose and thinking of the most embarrassing thing she could. The image of Warden walking in on her as she had her hooves stuffed between her hindlegs did it, and a faint tinge of red found her cheeks.
“I-I wasn’t doing anything!” Kuno protested weakly, quite obviously wiggling her hooves to push the picks under the mattress. “T-this thing is heavy!”
Warden scowled at her, his eyes narrowing, raising a hoof to point accusingly at the broken pick stuffed in the padlock.
Kuno affected the sulkiest tone she could muster. “I never was any good at picking locks.”
Warden snorted once, holding out his hoof wordlessly.
Sighing, Kuno made a great show of slowly, angrily pulling out the inferior pick, and the broken one to place in Warden’s hoof, shooting him dirty looks the entire way.
Once that was done, she turned her back on him, huffing.
“Where’d you ge-”
“If you’re talking at me, I can’t hear you, remember?” Kuno stated smugly, not looking back over her shoulder.
There was a growl of anger from behind her, and Kuno suppressed a giggle as Warden stomped off. The door slammed, and then clicked, locked.
It was a full minute before the pegasus returned, shoving open the door and marching over to her, holding up a notepad.
Kuno merely turned her head away from it. “I’m not reading that.”
A push at her shoulder made her turn and glower at him. The notepad was pushed almost up against her nose, long enough for her to read:
Where did you get them?
The notepad was drawn back, and Warden arched an eyebrow at her, crossing his hooves angrily.
Kuno snorted once, turning her head. It was several long moments before she spoke, as haughtily as she could. “Remember the clock? You think I knocked it over on accident?”
Warden’s eyes narrowed at that, and he looked the changeling up and down suspiciously.
“Yeah, you took the damn picks off me, okay? You win! I’ll just... I’ll just die here and you won’t have to worry about your moral compass and conscience,” Kuno spat, playing to the pegasus’ demonstrated emotions.
Ears splaying backwards, Warden withdrew a moment, and then his gaze softened.
“I...” he started, and then trailed off, sighing, remembering that she couldn’t hear him. His voice was small as he continued. “I didn’t want for this to happen... but I can’t just let you out to ruin ponies’ lives...”
Kuno had to strain to hear it, and she gave no outward indication that she had heard him.
“And you’re deaf as a bloody mule!” Warden growled, tossing the notepad against the wall in a flurry of annoyance. “Geeze.”
Kuno didn’t even move or give any indication that she noticed as the pegasus stormed out, slamming the door behind him. After a minute, she made a show of looking around and acting surprised as she found that he was no longer there.
It wasn’t until a little bit later in the day that Warden came for again, tether in hoof, his other making a motion for her to give him her collar.
Kuno gave a long-suffering sigh, and sidled over to him, offering him her throat.
Warden clipped the tether to her collar, and then tugged it firmly, forcing her to follow him. He led her to the kitchen table, clipping the other end of her tether to the iron ring.
Once again, a half a loaf of bread, and a bowl of stew were placed in front of her.
Kuno looked down at the food, and then up at the pegasus. The food didn’t look that appetizing to her any more. She was feeding from Warden’s faint affection for her, and that was far more filling than stew and bread. But she had to keep up the facade.
Snorting once to herself, Kuno began to slowly, laboriously eat her meal, taking longer and longer with each bite, feigning weakness. In truth, it was the strongest she had felt since she had awoken in the field.
And Warden had made one huge mistake.
When she collapsed the previous day, he had forgotten to force her to take the magic suppressant.
Without the muddling effects of the drug, Kuno’s mind was clear. She knew exactly what she had to do.
Warden looked up as a thud resounded throughout the room. Kuno had hit the floor.
Immediately, the pegasus was moving around the table to check on her again, face twisted with worry.
The moment his hooves touched her, Kuno sprang into action.
A quick twist of her hooves and a turn of her body, and she had wrapped the rope over Warden’s neck. Swiftly, Kuno rolled, dragging the rope with her, pulling the pegasus over her form and onto his back, with her rolling atop him. His head hit the floor hard, dazing him, and he blinked unseeingly at the ceiling for several seconds.
Kuno took the opportunity to cross the rope over his throat and hold it there, squeezing and tightening.
Warden realised his peril too late, scrabbling at her frantically with his forehooves. Kuno merely held her face away from the flailing limbs, until the pegasus went limp.
The changeling stared down at him, holding the rope. All she had to do was keep squeezing, holding the blood from reaching his brain. He would die in seconds. Or she could even twist and yank the rope and kill him.
But something stopped her. Gently, Kuno released the rope, letting it relax. She checked the pegasus’ pulse, made sure he was breathing, and then set about freeing herself. In seven minutes, Kuno was free, unlocking her collar and then staring down at the form of the unconscious pegasus with a sly grin.
Warden returned to consciousness slowly. His head was throbbing, and his wings were uncomfortable. He tried to move them, only to find that they were bound. He struggled slightly, eyes flicking open, and he blinked rapidly, shaking his head. His entire body was bound in rope, and his neck jingled faintly. A red collar with a bell was affixed to his neck. The rope tether was attached to it and padlocked in place.
Kuno gently pushed at Warden’s head with her hoof, to get his attention.
“You bitch!” the pegasus spat up at her.
“Language!” Kuno chided, bopping him on the nose with a hoof and idly taking a bite of the loaf of bread she held in her free hoof. “Sorry about the rope, by the way. But you’re a big, strapping stallion. Wouldn’t want you breaking free, now, would we?”
“You can hear me,” Warden stated flatly, glowering up at her.
“How astute,” Kuno said with a wry grin. “Any other revelations you’d like to share?”
“I’m going to kill you,” Warden growled, his tone menacing.
“Now now, hun. If you were going to do that, you had ample opportunity. Let’s just skip the foreplay and get right down to the heart of the matter. I’m a changeling. You’re a pony. You’re supposed to want to kill me, but you really don’t want to. In fact, it’s because of your affection for me that I can hear again.” The changeling took a step closer to the pegasus, and then placed a hoof on his chest, peering down at him intently. “And that intrigues me. So while I have a captive audience, I intend to sate my curiosity.”
“Go to hell!” Warden retorted, struggling against his bonds again.
Kuno sighed once, shaking her head. “This really will go easier if you cooperate. You spared me... and if you tell me what I want to know, I might even spare you.”
“Go. To. Hell.” Warden bit off, trying his best to push at her hoof with his chest.
“Oh come now, this is going to get tiresome very quickly.” Kuno tilted her head down at the pony, and then pursed her lips. “I didn’t want to do this, but you leave me little choice.”
Kuno aimed her horn at the pegasus, and let her magic flow out, a green beam of light hitting him square between the eyes. He convulsed, crying out once, and then went still and quiet.
The changeling peered at the pegasus, grinning and leaning in closer, trailing a hoof along his cheek. His eyes were green and vacant, under her spell. And even though she felt her energy reserves teetering on painfully empty again, Kuno smiled.
“Let’s find out what makes you tick,” she whispered.
Stats
Page generated in 0.031 seconds
Total duration
1,011 users online
2,131,005 hits today, 2,280,440 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
1609815
Wait... new... updates THAT fast? you must be... 
gimmegimmegimme!!! 
Come on warden fight it off and beat the crap into her
1609850 Already posted.
1609855
Gimmegimmegimmegimme!!!!!!!!
What in the..? I thought Kuno was nice. Or nicer than this. Confused. This chapter showed up while I was reading the previous chapter - love it when that happens
Checks tag: Romance
Can't wait to see this updated.
1609833 Still, it’s a pretty distressing situation with escape looking like the only option. It’s also unlikely she’ll convince him she’s harmless at this point because of the invasion. Personally I would have been as honest as possible without endangering other Changelings but then again I’m not one so, yeah.
On an unrelated note that gives me an idea! What if this is just some set up to get information out of her? It would explain the conveniently meticulous set up and make an interesting pot twist.
1609873 Kuno is nice. When she's not collared, drugged constantly, and a prisoner
1609888 Good point.
1609902
You're looking at this wrong. Warden doesn't want a changeling pet.
What happened is, he comes across a changeling in the field. He knows two things. He can't let her go because she'll feed on other ponies, and destroy their lives. The second thing he knows is that if he turns her in, she'll be killed by the guard. Executed.
So, he does the only thing his conscience and morals will allow him to do. He keeps her prisoner, even though he KNOWS he's slowly killing her and it's cutting him up inside.
1609911 First one, ehhhh, I got it wrong. Sure.
Second one was quite deliberate.
Third one. wat.
1609853 hard to beat someone up when you're tied up!
Anyways, this one felt a bit shorter than the other 3 but it was still a good chapter I'd say. Again looking forward to the next update... of course I have to question her choice to use mind magic on this guy when her love energies are already so low... I guess though she's banking on the fact that she'll get some more pretty quickly... maybe take the shape of someone he loves and feed off that for a while.
So when Pony not kill changeling but keep him imprisoned, changeling should be thankful and do what he is said to do, but when Changeling imprison the same Pony what imprisoned him, Pony gets angry, pfffff, seems someone do not like to take they own medicine.
Anyway now that roles are reversed, changeling have a chance to prove that he is not a monster and not a pet.
challenge to author. write one more chapter before this day ends..... please
Besides the grammar errors (you really need to either fix them up or find a pre-reader to do so) and the odd word choice it's a pretty interesting story.
Aww man, I hate cliffhangers.
1610073 as much as I have the same desire for another chapter... if waiting ensures quality, I'll wait lol
Still...
cdn.memegenerator.net/instances/250x250/29026730.jpg
1609971 i guess so. But when he has the chance he should punch her in the face
She just had to use a spell and buck things up.
When he finds out he'll get really pissed off.
I.want. kinky stuff
I.want. kinky stuff
This chapter came as quite the surprise to me. It's not surprising that she's escaping, but some of the things she says make her seem quite cruel compared to what we've learned about her so far. Things like how if he cooperates, she MIGHT let him live make her sound like more like a villain than you probably intend. Something along the lines of how she won't kill him, but can't have him coming after her either as a reversal of what he said to her earlier would be amusing, and less villain-y.
I wonder if next chapter will confirm my thoughts
oh no its turning into a clopfic lol.
interesting she already got free and its only chapter 4.
good story keep writing
Whens the romance gonna come in?
1610172
i agree with you on waiting for quality. but this story has so much good potential. i am having problems containing myself for all the lolz, daw and baw that might come.
Wait, did this just bump Sunny Skies all day Long from first place??
Oh, interesting, now Kuno gets to be top.
1610172
that pic.....
1609980
I think the problem is that he's been doing what he thinks is best, and right now doing that has put him in danger. On the other hand, if he had let "her" go free, she'd be dead. He's merely reacting the way she did to some extent, except that he wasn't incapable of moving and depressed to boot. She's acting a little off now, although maybe it's that she has the upper hand. This go could in several different ways... She could try and find a way to get love from him, realize that he likes her already but is trapped by his situation (idle speculation), discover something up there that would make her leave immediately, who knows...
I suspect he has no interest in killing her, he's just mad, and up until she told him the specifics about her ears probably thought she'd been playing him for a fool the whole time. Not only that but he probably has no interest in sharing the details of his life.
wy do i find this chapter hot there must be something wrong with me
Kuno isn't happy about suffering the pains of starvation. I think she would have preferred the spear. At least then it would have been quick and painless.
Nevertheless, she knows there's more to the story than a simple moral conflict on why she was spared. After all, the Warden's concern for her was enough to cure her severally damaged ears. It's likely that was more than just concern about someone's life. Let's take look in the Warden's mind.
(Also, I noticed from the last time I saw this story, you now have your first dislike! Oh noes!)
1613301
Maybe you like males in rope bondage?
1614079 I know, right? It was the top of the 'highest rated'. So I guess someone had to dislike it. Hater or no hater.
1614092
"I'm going to down-vote it because it's overrated and not because of what I actually think of the content inside. Heck, I haven't even read it! I'm so mature.
"
Or maybe someone actually didn't like it. Who knows?
1614312 And it's completely anonymous, so they can do it at will without repercussion. It's not so much a contest of writing ability, and more of 'lets see how many haters I can avoid!' you know, unless your story really DOES suck.
1614322
Honestly, I think there should be a third choice on the vote bar: neutral. Of course, some, if not most, people go for the highest or lowest option. Oh well.
1614325 I prefer star system, honestly. 1-5. Up and down only gives you so much leeway. Because it reduces both 'LOVE' and 'kinda like...' to a single choice one way or another.
Basically, you could have a fic like, say... well, I dunno. Never read either of them properly, but lets say MLD and Past Sins.
You could have everyone love the absolutely shit out of Past Sins, and give it thumbs up. But then MLD comes along and people like it, but don't really love it. But it still gets the same amount of thumbs up because there's no way to distinguish between 'I like this' and 'this was fucking awesome'.
1614331
Yeah, but as I said, some people go for the extreme choice. I remember looking at Youtube statistics when it had a five-star system. Rarely, did I see any 2, 3, or 4-star votes.
Still, I would like to see a neutral middle choice, just to see if people start to go for that choice. Maybe a 3-choice system instead of 2 or 5.
Things are getting good they would be better if I wasn't sitting in the Morgue right now
I was listening to Beethoven's Symphony Number 9 while reading. The tone somehow perfectly matched up with the story's events. Sweeeeeeeeet.......
I am loving this!
I can't wait to read more.
I'm working on my own changeling romance story if anyone is interrested.
Oh you double crossing cangeling-just...Gah!
this is a very well done story i can't help but fell sorry for the changling while at the same time wondering whats going to happen next
Oh snap! Kuno's a rough-and-tumble changeling through and through. As soon as she could, she sprung a trap for poor, underprepared Warden. But holy hell, she bent a metal spring out of shape with her bare hooves?? Daaaayum guuurrrrll. Either that spring was a piece of crap (copper maybe?) or she's really strong. Not sure which.
I do take a bit of conflict with one of the main points of the story, though. I've loved everything up until this point. I like to think that Celestia, and by extension the Royal Guard, are a bit more forgiving than execution. In many other stories I've read, and supported by the canon, it's not in the pony spirit to kill. Like, at all. I suppose the real question is, would the Royal Guard, in your mind, actually execute Kuno, or is it just Warden being fearful and paranoid? I'd be much more taken with the storyline were it the latter. Maybe I'll just assume that to enhance my reading experience. Besides, it's not explicitly stated...
1610172 I would second the motion if your "another" was spelled correctly.
Ok personally I would have just infested him, but whatevs I guess Kuno's not changeling enough, unlike me....
hehehehehe
o-o
Bronies new weapon against the hater scum... Mwahahahahah! [http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qRC4Vk6kisY&desktop_uri=%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DqRC4Vk6kisY]
tables turned now, haven't they?
I wonder what Kuno is going to do...
RAPE
3496769 I think kuno has temporarily been mind controlled by princess Malestia... EVERYPONY FOR THEMSELVES!!!!!!!!
1609888 Kuno can be a bit of a bitch no? Thugh i can't say that i really blame her, as i myself am tempted occassionally to do the same to some of the doctors and nurses here at the psyche ward which is my current living condiction until i can remember my name and maintain my mental stability for a year... ugh...