The next few days were uneventful, and eventually Amor was allowed into the city, and occasionally was given small chores from Celestia. Almost all the citizens had gotten used to Amor, even accepting him as part of the city. He never asked for anything from them, only expected to be treated like them. All but one accepted him.
Celestia sent Amor to help the cooks in the kitchen. When Amor entered, a rush of different scents flooded into his nose. He could smell every prepared meal that was either being made or was already prepared, weather it was in the garbage or still on a plate. He looked around trying to find out who he should report to. He then spotted one of the cooks preparing the next meal.
“Are you the head chef?”
“Yes I am. Did Celestia send you?”
“Yeah, I’m here to help in any way possible.”
“Can you cook?”
“No.”
“Then you are to go into town and pick up my last order. I will need it to continue to prepare dinner.”
“Dinner? This early?”
“The meal I am preparing will take time to complete. It should be done in time for dinner. For now, go get those ingredients.” And just like that, Amor was off.
He walked through the town quickly, knowing that the pony was ahead of him.
“Hey, parasite! What are you doing out and about so early, looking for your next victim?”
Amor continued on his route, ignoring the pony. He was a dull grey pegasus, his mane and hair were brown and had a greasy look to them. His cutie mark, a snake with a silver tongue, said a lot about him. Amor didn’t know his name, and he planned to keep it like that. He was obnoxious. Every time Amor passed, he would make another rude comment, sometimes saying as much as he could think up before he retreated back to the safety of his house. For the most part, Amor didn’t let these remarks bother him.
“Are you just going to ignore me? Oh that’s right, you can’t feed off of anger. Well, that’s too bad, cuz I’ve got plenty for you!”
Amor was quickly passed the pegasus. He didn’t want to be anywhere near that fool. He quickly found the shop he was looking for. He entered and walked to the front counter, being greeted by a high spirited yellow mare with a pale red mane.
“Welcome! Can I help you?”
“I just need to pick up the ingredients for the princess’s dinner.”
“Bad day?”
“Believe it or not, I’ve still got enemies.”
“Well, I’ll just be a minute.”
“Take your time.”
Amor was lost in thought. How could he judge me? He knows nothing of the pain I went through. After a few minutes of waiting, the mare came back with a small sac of different ingredients.
“That should be everything. Don’t worry, it’s already paid for.”
“Thank you. Goodbye.”
“Goodbye! I hope your day gets better!”
Amor walked the path home, knowing exactly what to expect. When he turned the corner, he already saw the grey pegasus. I wonder what he has brewed up this time.
“Hey, bug boy! Ready for round two?”
Amor just kept walking, ignoring his every remark. He blocked out all of it, but he just managed to hear the last remark made by the grey pony.
“I guess you left that hornet’s nest on your own terms. Or…maybe you couldn’t stand the sight of your so called queen?”
Amor stopped in his tracks. He waited for the next remark, but it never came. He turned to look at the pegasus, and saw a wide grin across his face. He found Amor’s weak spot. Before he could let loose his next set of remarks, Amor was off. He felt a new sense of rage in his body.
“Here, take your ingredients.” Amor had an agitated and angry tone to his voice.
“You don’t sound happy.”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
Amor threw the bag of ingredients on the counter before making his way to his room, where he sat, thinking about the events that had passed. He has no right to mention Chrysalis. I almost let loose upon him, almost slaughtered him. Perhaps I did overreact a little though…I’ll try to keep calm, but if he continues, this may not end well.
Amor headed down to dinner moments later, content on not talking about the grey pony to anyone. While they ate, Celestia looked at Amor. She saw it in his eyes, he was deep in thought, and he was angry.
“Amor, did something happen today? You seem as though you’re thinking a lot.”
“It was nothing important, princess. I’ll be fine.”
Celestia wasn’t happy with the answer she got, but decided it would be best not to dig any deeper for the time being.
Amor quickly finished his dinner and was off to bed. He had rage still in his heart, so he had no dreams. He slept soundly and awoke the next morning, ready to begin. He was sent to the chef again, and his heart sank when he was sent to get more ingredients.
“You mean I have to go to the same shop?”
“Yes, I set another order that was to be ready this morning. I need you to go get them.”
“Why didn’t you just have me get them yesterday?”
“I just told you, they weren’t to be ready until this morning. I would get them myself, but I have a lot that needs to be done. Please, just get the ingredients.”
With a heavy sigh, Amor was out the door, his teeth grinding hard. He tried to ready himself for the next verbal assault, but was surprised to see that the pegasus wasn’t outside this morning. Amor took advantage of this and hurried to the shop. He was greeted by the same yellow mare as yesterday.
“Hi! It’s nice seeing you hear again! Same reason?”
“Yeah, same reason.”
“So, how has today been going so far?”
“Better, for now.”
“Good to hear, I’ll just be one moment.”
Please hurry, Amor thought. I need to take advantage of this. He then began thinking about why he was here. Why is Celestia sending me on all of these small jobs? I’m a king! But, I guess I need to gain the trust of the citizens, and there is no better way than to let them see that I’m just as normal as them, I live my life the same, even if I look different. But why does that pegasus have to torture me? I could transform, but that wouldn’t be good for my public image, but neither would hurting the fool. Well, considering how much I hate transforming, I’ll deal with the annoying pest for one more day, but I must tell Celestia today. The mare came back a small bit later with the small bag.
“Have a nice day, and I hope it stays this good for you.”
“So do I. Thank you.”
As Amor walked he just kept thinking to himself. Maybe he won’t be there. Maybe he got what he wanted out of me. But all good things must end. The grey pony was waiting, the grin still across his face.
“Hey, parasite. Been thinking of that hag you call a queen lately? I wonder what happened to her. Hey, maybe she’s dead.”
“Shut up, right now.”
“What’s wrong? Don’t like it when I talk about that abomination?”
“I said shut up.”
Amor was already enraged, but the next comment made it much worse.
“It’s no wonder she attacked Canterlot. If you left her, you must not have loved her at all, or she wasn’t getting enough out of you.”
“SHUT UP!” Amor shouted at the pegasus at the top of his lungs. A small crowd began to circle the spectacle.
“Why, what are you going to do about it? You’re not allowed to hurt me, Celestia will have you executed. It’s no wonder your queen-“
“I SAID SHUT UP!” Amor couldn’t control himself. He charged at the pegasus as fast as he could. The pegasus was stunned. He never expected Amor to actually retaliate. With a hard tackle, the pony was on the ground, Amor standing over him with his horn glowing, his eyes burning with rage. Luckily, he regained control of himself before he hurt the pony any further. What have I done? He looked around to see a large group of ponies staring at him in shock and fear. Amor ran to the castle. He had to be the one to tell Celestia about this, if she heard it from anypony else, it would look even worse for Amor. He threw the doors open and ran to Celestia.
“Amor? What happened? Why did you just storm in hear like that?”
Amor bowed before the princess, he didn’t want to look her in the eyes.
“Amor, what did you do?” her voice was still somewhat calm, but filled with concern.
“Princess, I…I attacked one of the citizens. He has been toying with me for the last few days, but until today he didn’t entirely get on my nerves. I’m sorry.”
Celestia looked at Amor, pity and worry in her eyes. She then looked at the guard standing beside her throne.
“Go find the victim, bring him before me.”
“Yes ma’am.” When the guard left, Celestia diverted her attention back to Amor.
“Amor, I know you didn’t mean to hurt him, but I cannot let this go unpunished. You must spend the week back in the prison cell.”
“I understand. I was just so filled with rage that I couldn’t control myself.”
“What did he do?”
Amor thought a small moment. “He…he ‘commented’ on the one pony I love.”
Celestia looked down at Amor. He could feel it, she was giving off disappointment and…admirement? She somewhat admired him for what he did? Amor’s head tried to figure out these thoughts, but before he could, the guard returned with the injured pegasus. When he reached the throne, he bowed down, and both were signaled to rise.
“What is your name?”
“Creed.”
“Your full name.”
“Creed Rain, your majesty.”
“Well, Mr. Rain, Amor has admitted to what he has done, do you have anything to add?”
Amor felt it radiate off of the small pegasus. He was afraid, but he gave off a new found respect towards Amor.
“Yes, princess. I have been instigating this changeling for some time now. I just never expected him to retaliate like he did. I apologize if this has caused any problems.”
“Well, because of this incident, Amor must spend a week imprisoned.”
Creed looked at Amor. He still somewhat feared him, but Amor knew he was done with his verbal attacks.
“I’m sorry para…Amor. Forgive me.”
Amor hesitated before giving his answer. “Forgive and forget.”
On that note, Amor was led to the small cell he first ended up in when he entered Canterlot. He took his place on the floor once more and began to think. That was all it took? All I had to do was retaliate, and the fool would stop? While he thought the grey pony walked out front of the cell.
“Amor, I would like you to know that I was not pressured into what I said back there, I meant it.”
“I know.”
“So, did you mean what you said?”
“Yes, and I won’t lie, you opened some old scars with that first comment about my queen. The rest was just salt in the wounds.”
“I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize how much pain I brought you until you attacked. I guess I was just still angry about the whole changeling incident and let that anger out on you. But to make it official, I apologize.” The pony stuck his hoof through the iron bars of the cell door. Amor rose to his feet and raised his. He hesitated a bit, but eventually took the hoof and shook with the grey pony.
“So, you don’t mind being down here?”
“I like my alone time.”
“Well then, I’ll leave you alone.”