• Published 25th Dec 2012
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An Affliction of the Heart: Volume Two - Anonymous Pegasus



Part two of An Affliction of the Heart.

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Regifting

Warden limped as fast as he could, with Green Hoof at his side, urging him faster, pushing against his good wing with her shoulder, helping to make him move.

Both ponies cast fearful glances back over their shoulders at the building black cloud of darkness behind them. A pair of vibrant eyes appeared in the centre of it, staring at them as the cloud expanded and chased them.

“Go. Faster!” Green Hoof almost snarled, pushing Warden to greater speeds.

Warden, with tears in his eyes and teeth bared in pain, galloped all the faster in response. The increased pace required him to run on all fours, especially when his hooves slipped on the icy path. Each time his bad right hoof came down on the ground, he winced and cried out in pain, but still Green Hoof pushed him to greater speed.

“Hurry up! I can’t carry you!” Green Hoof insisted, pushing him harder with her shoulder, beating him with a hoof in worry. “Go! Go! Go!”

Warden almost wanted to hit the earth pony back, but he knew that she could have already been at the safety of the shield wall if she wasn’t there urging him onwards.

The shield wall shimmered ahead of them, curving up into the sky as a giant half-sphere. Snowflakes hit the side of the shield and seemed to just disperse.

And still, Warden and Green Hoof bounded through the blinding flurries of snow.

Kuno had left the day before, heading for the nearest Royal Guard station, to tell them of what had happened. A quick scouting flight by the changeling the moment the sun had come up had confirmed that the Crystal Empire was back, and it was under some kind of spell. All of the ponies were fast asleep, and a black cloud was hovering around the tower.

A little later in the day, Warden and Green Hoof had been sitting on a hilltop overlooking the large city when they saw the Guard Captain, Shining Armor, bounding away from the tower, firing magic bolts at the black cloud. The black cloud had immediately begun to chase the unicorn, hunting him. The moment the black cloud left the city, the shield wall had gone up, and Shining Armor had teleported somewhere. Neither Warden nor Green Hoof had any clue where he went. After some roaring and angry growls, the black cloud had caught sight of them and begun chasing them!

“C’mon! We’re almost there!” Green Hoof urged, pushing the pegasus harder and harder with her shoulder.

Warden panted hard as he tried his best to keep his balance. He didn’t have much cause for exercise with his injuries, and had let himself get rather unfit. “I hope that shield isn’t solid!”

“It won’t be!” Green Hoof panted in response, though she looked a little worried, biting her bottom lip as the bounded side-by-side across the snow.

The two ponies reached the barrier, and launched themselves at it, shoulders-first, as though to try and break through it.

There was a surprising lack of resistance as they reached the barrier, barrelling right through it, the two of them tumbling through the barrier and onto the green grass on the other side, rolling over and over.

Warden came to a painful halt, wincing and grimacing heavily, his ears pinning back.

The black cloud snarled in anger as it brushed against the barrier, the eyes within the mist glowing angrily as it was withheld from entering.

Green Hoof shook one of her hooves at the dark cloud in triumph, before turning to help Warden back up.

Warden grimaced, putting his weight carefully on three hooves and beginning to limp heavily as Green Hoof corralled him towards the central tower.


“Warden?” Shining Armor asked, sounding amazed to see the pegasus.

On reflex, Warden saluted, holding his right hoof against his brow.

“Stand down, you’re no longer in the guard, you have no need to salute me,” Shining Armor said with a shake of his head.

“Reflex, I guess,” Warden said with a wry smile.

Warden, Green Hoof, Shining Armor and Princess Cadance were standing in the large throne room of the Crystal Empire palace. Cadance’s horn was constantly glowing, keeping the shield wall up.

Shining Armor gently nudged his wife, and his own horn began to glow. Cadance gave a sigh of relief, allowing her spell to drop, while Shining Armor kept the spell going.

“This is new and strange,” Warden said, moving towards the balcony and peering out over the city. Ponies in the street were waking up, starting to move around. “How long have you two been here for?”

“We’ve been here only an hour or so, teleported right from Canterlot,” Shining Armor said, coming to stand at the balcony as well, casting a worried gaze towards the shield wall. “We managed to get Sombre out of the city, and the shield is keeping him out, but we have no way to defeat him. Even the princesses couldn’t truly defeat him.”

Warden frowned deeply. “Is there anything we can do to help?”

Shining Armor looked sideways at the pegasus, taking note of his bad leg and wing, before shaking his head. “Realistically, no. Just pick a room in the palace here and wait it out. Celestia is sending help.”


Warden looked up as the door to his room opened, and a pink-faced powder-blue pegasus stepped inside, panting faintly.

“Kuno?” Warden asked, recognizing the form that Kuno took when they were in public.

Kuno nodded, looking about before shivering and dropping her changes, a flash of green light revealing the changeling standing there. She moved to the bed, pulling herself up onto it next to Warden, still panting faintly.

“Had to fly like the wind to outrun Sombrero,” Kuno said breathlessly, shaking her head. “Haven’t flown like that for years.”

Warden nodded, rolling the changeling over and beginning to knead a hoof against her wings slowly. Kuno gave a low groan, melting into the touch, resting her head on a hoof, peering out over the balcony lazily. “The entire Crystal Empire is back?”

“Apparently. All the ponies are waking up again now that Sombre has been forced out,” Warden said with a gentle nod, kissing the changeling’s neck. “I’m glad you made it through.”

“Almost didn’t!” Kuno said with a wrinkled nose. “The guard station wanted me to go all the way to Canterlot to brief Celestia in person. I escaped though.”

Warden snorted once. “That’s the Royal Guard for you.”

“Your ex-comrades,” Kuno teased, rolling over to face him, before hugging him tightly.

“I was only part time!” Warden protested, nudging her with his nose with a smile.

“So, is there anything we can do?” Kuno asked worriedly, looking outside at the shield wall.

Warden shook his head. “At least, not that I can do. Shining Armor gave me that look you give to a brand new recruit wanting to take on a dragon.”

Kuno raised a brow slowly. “That happens often enough that there’s a specific look?”

“You’d be surprised,” Warden said with a smile, leaning in to kiss her nose affectionately. “So we’re stuck in here until Sombre goes away.”

“Ugh. But our farm is outside the field!” Kuno stated with a huff.

Warden nodded. “Indeed. But it’ll be fine for a little while, I guess. A few days wouldn’t be so bad... but...”

“But what?” Kuno asked, ears perking.

“Well, the exclusivity-”

“-That’s not even a word!-”

“-of our Crystal Ice Berries is very much in question what with the Crystal Empire coming back...” Warden finished, frowning.

Kuno huffed, frowning deeply. “Well maybe we’ll get lucky and they’ll all just die.”

Warden blinked slowly.

Kuno gave him her sweetest smile, batting her eyelids at him.

Warden just shook his head, bopping the changeling on the nose.


Three long, long days was the length of time that passed before Warden, Kuno, and Green hoof could return to the farm. Thankfully, Sombre hadn’t decided to destroy the place, and rather than some wilting in the berries, everything was untouched. Enough time had passed that the crystal sheen in their coats had faded, and Kuno especially was happy about this. She had looked quite strange as a crystal changeling.

Immediately, Warden, Kuno, and Green Hoof all set about feeding the vines more snowflakes. They had a very amazing process of moisture-consumption that was entirely magical in nature. Any snowflakes that fell near them were absorbed by the leaves of the vines, turned into nourishing water inside the vine and leaves themselves, to feed the growing berries. The two ponies and changeling took turns dumping buckets of snow over the crystal ice vines, and gathering the ripe berries from the second field. The berries weren’t locked into any seasonal produce, as they just needed bitter cold to flourish. Warden had decided to grow one field, and have the other in a state of harvest, so that there were always ripe berries to be had.

It was midway through this process that they got their visitors.

An entire family of crystal ponies forged their way through the snow to come to the field. An older grandfather pony, his daughter, her husband, and their two children.

The five of them just stared in silence at the house and the field. Warden noticed them, but was unsure what to say. Before he could make his mind up, the family turned to leave, beginning a sad, weary march back towards the Crystal Empire.

Warden limped after the family, calling after them. “Hey! Wait!”

The grandfather peeled off from the ground, turning to face Warden. “ ‘lo, youngster.”

Warden paused then, peering at the older pony in confusion. “What’re you all doing out here?”

The older pony frowned, and then gave a soft sigh. “We... had land out here. Before... Somber. A huge field of Ice Berries, a manor, pets...”

Warden’s ears pinned back at that, and he sat down on his rump, biting his bottom lip. “You owned that land?”

“Everything is gone,” the older pony said with a shake of his head. “The manor, the fields... everything is gone.”

Warden nodded gently. The house that was there was only a few decades old. No home would have lasted a thousand years.

“I... I don’t know what I can do to help, but... I do have more fields, and not enough workers to tend to them. You could work for me?” Warden offered hopefully.

The older pony paused at that, rubbing a hoof against his chin thoughtfully. “You got room for five ponies in that house?”

“More than enough,” Warden said with a warm smile.

“You got a deal, young un!” the older pony said, grinning and turning to his family, putting a hoof to his muzzle and whistling.

The four ponies looked back at that, before trudging towards them again.

“Our home is gone, but we’re gonna work for this nice pony, mmkay?” the older pony said.

The two adults nodded, and the children bounced in place. “We don’t have to go back to the city? Yay!”


Warden sat in the swinging chair, with Kuno snuggled up against his side, in her natural form. Neither of them had been able to work. Between Green Hoof, and the three new crystal ponies, there just wasn’t enough work to go around. The crystal ponies had proven themselves to be insanely fast workers. Warden wasn’t even sure how they did it so fast, it didn’t seem possible.

“This is... not what I was expecting,” Warden murmured, gently moving his hindlegs to keep the swinging chair rocking back and forth.

Kuno, in her pegasus form, nodded, kissing his neck gently. “It’s very... strange.”

“Aye... I don’t like watching them work and not being able to help,” Warden admitted, looking down at the floor of the swinging chair in a sad way.

“You were slowing them down, you know,” Kuno pointed out in a teasing manner, wrapping her hooves around him. “And now I have you to myself again, without all this work to get in the way.”

“I know, and I enjoy that... but... these people didn’t ask for this,” Warden said with a frown. “They used to own all this land, had a working staff of twelve ponies and eighteen fields. They were having a vacation in the city when the whole thing happened. And now they’re back and everything is gone...”

“Life is like that,” Kuno said with a soft frown, nuzzling into Warden’s neck. “What could we do about it?”

“...We could give them the farm,” Warden said quietly.

“What?” Kuno asked with a single blink.

“We could give them the farm,” Warden reiterated.

“But... this is your dream,” Kuno said, frowning deeply, her ears pinning back. “This is the fruition of everything you ever wanted.”

“Dreams change,” Warden said quietly.

“You have a new dream?” Kuno asked gently, nuzzling into him.

Warden nodded, leaning against her slightly and kissing her cheek. “Some days, my new dream is to just walk and fly like I used to...”

Kuno’s ears splayed back, and she hugged him firmly. “I’m sorry, Warden...”

“Don’t be,” Warden said with a bitterness in his tone. “It’s not your fault. And anyhow, the other dream I have... I just... I wanna get old with you. That’s it.”

Kuno stared at the pegasus for a long moment, tears brimming in her eyes, before she hugged him with a fierce intent. “You sweet-talking monster. You had better not be saying this just to get filthy, depraved sex!”

“That’d be a downgrade,” Warden teased, smiling and kissing her nose.

Kuno swatted him with a hoof, shaking her head. “Naughty pegasus!”

Warden smiled, leaning against the changed pegasus and rubbing his cheek against her own. “Just... I already have what I need to be happy... and this poor family. I could give them everything they need to be happy again. The adults don’t let on, but they don’t like working for somepony.”

kuno nodded gently. “I’ve seen that.”

“The grandfather is too close to the end to be bitter... but the kids? I don’t want to be somepony that just sits on the sidelines and earns money from other ponies’ work.” Warden sighed, shaking his head.

Nodding again, Kuno gently stroke a hoof over his good wing. “It’s up to you, Warden. Whatever decision you make, I’ll respect it.”


Warden looked out over the road leading away from the farm, where a carriage was trundling up along the rarely-used road.

“So, how long you going for?” the older pony asked, looking Warden up and down. “We’ll make sure the farm don’t fall into disrepair.”

Warden gave a wan smile, while pegasus Kuno pushed past, holding her most precious things in her hooves. Her collar, and the winged lion he had won for her at the fair so very long ago.

“I’m not coming back,” Warden stated.

The pony scratched his head. “You’re promoting me to farm manager?”

Warden shook his head slowly, reaching into his bag and pulling out the deed to the farm, passing it to the older pony.

The older pony’s eyes widened, and he blinked slowly, dumbstruck. “You’re... giving...”

“Giving you the farm, yes,” Warden said, wiggling the deed in front of his face gently. “Take it.”

The pony took the deed with shaking hooves, his eyes watering. “Thank you young’un, thank you. My children thank you, my grandchildren thank you, my entire family thanks you!”

Warden smiled, placing a hoof on the older pony’s shoulder. “Send me a bottle of wine once in a while, yeah?”

“I promise,” the pony said with an earnest nod, taking a step back so that Warden could climb into the carriage.

In far too short a time, Warden and Kuno were in the carriage, being borne back towards Ponyville.

“You don’t hate me for giving up the farm, do you?” Warden asked of Kuno, his tone concerned.

Kuno frowned a little bit. “Why would I?”

“Because you gave it to me as a gift in the first place...” Warden pointed out, pursing his lips.

Kuno smiled faintly, shifting closer to him and throwing her hooves around his neck. “It’s just a farm. I have you, and that’s all I need.”