Amor awoke still curled around Chrysalis. He didn’t move at all, but slowly, his eyes opened. He was face to face with Chrysalis, who was still asleep. A small smile came across his face, and he closed his eyes again, trying to hold on to this moment. It’s not a dream this time, he thought. I am not asleep, she is really here beside me. I never imagined it would be possible, but we are together again.
After several more minutes of peace and quiet, Chrysalis began to stir. Amor opened his eyes once more to greet her. With a heavy sigh, Chrysalis began slowly opening her eyes, finding her head almost touching the side of Amor’s, who then shifted to see her.
“Good morning, Amor.”
“Good morning.”
“It felt like forever since the last time I said that.”
“I know, I’m sorry.”
“Amor, I told you to stop. It is done.”
Amor looked at Chrysalis, let out a small smile, and curled his head around her gently, sure not to hurt her. She then draped her head over his neck.
“Please don’t leave me again.”
“I won’t. I will always come back. I will never leave you again.”
“Why did you leave me? You never told me why you left, not even in the letter.”
Amor was quiet for a small moment. He had not thought about the dreams for a while, since Luna has kept them away. But he needed to shed some light on it, let her know the true reason he left. It wasn’t something he wanted to do, but he felt he had to. With a heavy and painful sigh, Amor answered her, trying to piece together his memories.
“When we led the hive together, I always feared that I would somehow fail as king, fail not the hive, but you. The stress from these thoughts combined with the stress from the famine would give me terrible nightmares, nightmares about our hive dying. In these nightmares, they always ended with you blaming me for the famine, just before we both passed on.”
“Amor, you know I would never blame you.”
“I know, but then it got stranger. After a while, these dreams changed, I was no longer in the hive. I was in a void of darkness, listening to a voice that continued telling me to leave the hive. I didn’t want to believe them, but then one night the voice told me why I had to leave, said it had something to do with my cutie mark. It said that if I left, the hive would be saved, but I see now that was a lie. The dreams soon left me when I entered the area around Canterlot, saying something about how it would be dangerous to communicate.”
Chrysalis smiled. “Amor, it wasn’t lying. You were too good natured, your strategies were too protective of the hive. Once you left, I felt heartbroken, but I knew I must carry on. That was when one of the soldiers returned with a small wedding invitation and information about the princess to be married, who, luckily, was returning from vacation. Even if only for a few minutes, the hive got to feed.”
Amor needed some answers too. “May I ask you a question now?”
“Of course.”
“Why were you alone? Where was the rest of the hive?”
A serious looked took its place on Chrysalis’s face.
“Well, after the failed attack, we were sent out of Canterlot rather viciously. Most of the changelings who were in the town at the time were sent out farther than I was. I, however, hit a mountainside rather hard, and landed on the ground, unable to move. I thought I was going to be there for a while, when a small group of maybe five of our soldiers passed by. I tried to call to them, ask for some help. They heard me, and quickly looked straight at me. They didn’t help me. One hissed at me, another one stated how he couldn’t follow ‘a failed queen looking for a chance at power’.”
Amor listened silently. He couldn’t believe what he heard. The hive abandoned its queen?
“I managed to crawl into that cave, where I lied for two weeks, until you found me. I would have to believe the rest of the changelings headed back to the hive, trying to survive without a queen.”
Amor thought a small moment about what to say next, and only one thing came to mind.
“You know, I never found those answers I was promised in my dreams. I was ready to give up more than once, but when I thought about you, I kept pushing on. Memories of you kept me going in the day and helped me sleep at night.”
Chrysalis felt tears of happiness begin to build, and she closed her eyes.
“It’s good to have you back, Amor”
“I am glad to be back at your side.”
Unknown to both of them, Celestia and Luna were listening to their conversation. They began to walk away, but Luna had to ask a question to Celestia.
“Do you really think she can be trusted not to try something?”
“I believe that as long as Amor is with her, we have nothing to worry about.”
“And do you believe what she told him?”
“Why would she lie to the pony she loves, the one who saved her life?” They continued walking, but Celestia had a question for Luna.
“Did you know about his dreams?”
“He asked me to look over them. As far as I know, there was no voice speaking to him while he was within range of my spell.”
“So we may never find out who was trying to speak to him?”
“Maybe, sister.”
Amor stayed in the cell with Chrysalis, aiding her in any way he could. He was allowed to leave, but didn’t want to leave her side for the longest time, so they stayed together for yet another day, trying to comfort each other in any way they could.