“People of Canterlot, I stand before you today to share with you news of a celebration. As you know, we are now allies with the changeling hive. As of now, the changelings grow hungry, but we have come up with a solution. We are going to host a weekly event, invite the changelings to our city to celebrate friendship. I will now turn this over to Queen Purity of the changeling hive.”
Purity began to step forward. She was shaky, trembling, but with an assuring glance from Amor, she felt more confident. “People of Canterlot, I thank you for your cooperation. As you know, my people feed off of love to survive, but we do not need to steal it. I would like to see ponies and changelings living together peacefully and I feel this would be the start of it. Again, I thank you all for cooperating.” She turned and Celestia stepped forward again.
“Thank you all for coming, you are dismissed.” The crowd dispersed as the three headed back into the castle. Celestia turned around to see the two changelings stop close behind her. “Are you sure this will work?”
Amor stood tall. Remember, confidence. “It will work. The changelings have grown docile, most of them have already made friends with citizens here and others will learn to if they want to survive.”
Purity mimicked Amor. “And if they disobey and decide to attack, they will deal with five angry leaders.”
“Yeah, three royal changelings and two alicorns.”
Celestia smiled. “I hope you’re right.”
“Trust me, after they saw what I did to that timberwolf, I wouldn’t be surprised if they would listen to my every whim still.”
“Alright, alright. Do you need anything else?”
“No, I think I’ll stop at the hospital real quick and we’ll be off.”
The two changelings walked out the castle door, where they saw the two changeling soldiers, still strapped to the chariot, talking and laughing with the two royal guards. As soon as one noticed the two walk out, he nudged the other, and all four turned and bowed.
“My queen, are you ready to go?”
“Not yet, we are going to the hospital, you two can stay and chat for a little longer, until we get back.”
“Yes, my queen.” Amor could tell they weren’t about to argue. They were gaining strength with every word they spoke, and Amor was pretty sure the guards knew. He wasn’t about to ruin it though.
Amor and Purity entered the hospital moments later, greeted by the nurse at the front desk. She looked up to see the two changelings. “Hello, may I help you?” After a few moments she recognized Amor. “What did you do to yourself this time? More timberwolves?”
“No, no, we are here to see Souls, the changeling who was sharing a room with me.”
“Of course. You know where the room is, right?”
“Yes, we can get there ourselves. Thank you though.”
They stood outside the door for a few moments, unsure whether to enter or not. Amor stared at the doorknob. Purity was standing behind him, waiting patiently, but finally stepped forward.
“Father, what’s wrong?”
Amor was thinking about that day again. “I still feel guilty for what happened. If I would have reacted faster, if I would have done something-“
“It could have ended worse. You did all you could, you saved a life. If you would have rushed, it would have attacked all of them. If you would have waited, it would have killed her. Nothing more could have been done, nothing more can be done.”
Amor sighed. “Your right. She forgave me, I did what I could. Time to face my fear.” The door handle glowed, turned, and the door swung open. Souls was in her bed as usual, and she turned to see two large changelings enter the room.
“Queen Purity! King Amor!”
“I told you I’m not the king.”
“And I told you I would still call you that. But it’s great to see you. You didn’t have to come all the way out here to see me.”
“Of course we did. You are still one of us.”
“Yeah, but I’m useless. No wings, one leg, I can barely move.”
“But you are a changeling, and the hive would be happy to have you back. In fact, Chrysalis and I have been working on your house.”
“Really? Thank you, I never would have been able to finish in my condition. Speaking of which, how’s your leg?”
Amor held up his bad leg. “It doesn’t hurt, unless you hit it, but it’ll be fine, it isn’t holding me back at all.”
“That’s good.”
“Don’t worry, you’ll be out of here soon.”
“Yeah, thanks for trying to make me feel better.”
Amor grinned. “Don’t worry, we’ll have your house done soon.”
“You didn’t have to do that.”
“Oh yes I do.”
“Well, thank you.”
“Yeah, well we should be going soon, we just stopped by to see how you were doing, and we are glad to see how quickly you’re getting along.”
“Well, thanks for stopping by.” Souls struggled around on the bed, but finally just raised her arm to her head in a salute. Amor nodded and left, Purity close behind. They stepped in the chariot, and with a nod and a wave, all the guards were back to their posts, the changelings, filled with love, were stronger than when they got there and flew fast.
“You did good.”
“What?”
“Your speech. You did a good job.”
“Thank you, father.”
Nothing else was said, and they were back at the hive moments later. Chrysalis waited for Amor, seated at the throne built for her, now belonging to Purity.
“How did it go?”
“Good. Celestia is willing, there was no arguing with the citizens.”
“That’s good.” Amor began walking to his room. Chrysalis stepped down from the throne and quickly followed him. “Are you mad at me?”
Amor stopped in his tracks and turned. Chrysalis had a guilty look in face, as if she thought she did something wrong, as if she were undeserving. “Why would I be mad at you?”
“I didn’t go to Canterlot with you, I made you go through the pain of watching me feel your pain.”
“Stop. I could never be mad at you. You’re tearing yourself apart over nothing. You didn’t want to go you didn’t have to. You took my memories to ease my pain and you feel you did right, so you did. You can never do wrong in my eyes.”
“What about the attack on Canterlot?”
“You did what you thought was right, you were trying to feed the hive. I don’t care about that. You’re here with me now and I won’t let anything happen to you. I love you, no matter what you think.”
Chrysalis smiled weakly. “Alright. Sorry, I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“It’s okay. Now, let’s pretend this never happened.”
“Yeah.”
They entered the bed room moments later. Chrysalis’s crown hovered over to the table that was bedside and she used her magic to make Amor’s do the same. With the crown off and the meeting over, Amor shook his head back and forth. His hair was in his eyes, flattened and straightened. Perfect. One thought came into his head, one that he knew all too well. Share your pain.
“Chrysalis, you said your spell could give and take pain and memories.”
“Yes. What are you getting…no. No, I will not do it.”
Amor walked up to her. “Share your pain. Please, I had to see you go through the pain I had. The least I can do is take the pain away, so please, share your pain.”
She knew she couldn’t argue with him. “Alright, alright. Sit still.” Chrysalis locked horns with Amor and hers began to glow. “I love you.” After a few moments, her horn stopped, and an almost unbearable pain filled Amor. He fell to his knees, snarling and growling like a rabid animal. He saw the first of the memories. Chrysalis sat at their old bed, reading over the note over and over, eyes filled with tears. He felt his heart begin to ache. Emotional pain. What he caused her with a little note, he couldn’t believe it.
The scene flashed to the next memory of pain. The attack on Canterlot. Amor witnessed a young alicorn and a unicorn wearing what seemed like a guard’s ceremonial attire touch horns. A blast of magic shot out and launched her out from the town. That pain was enough, but then then moments later she was smashed into a cliffside. Amor felt like two more of his legs were broken, along with some of his ribs. He then felt the effects of weeks of hunger and thirst all at once. Then, he saw himself, standing over her. He picked her up and with the shift of all the broken bones another large rush of pain filled him. He was levitated to the bed by Chrysalis, who covered him up and did everything she could. The next memory came. She was sitting in their room in Canterlot, when a knock came at the door. A soldier entered the room and delivered the bad news: Amor was in the hospital. More emotional pain. Next thing he saw they were in the hospital. He was lying in a bed, wrapped in bandages, a cast around his leg. The emotional pain kept growing. The memories faded away, but the pain was still there.
“Close your eyes, here me sing.
Remember back, when you were king.
I’ll be here, by your side,
And I’ll help, your mind subside.
Please, please, be calm my love,
And clear your mind, of what you think of.”
Chrysalis’s melody calmed Amor. He listened. He closed his eyes, he steadied his breathing, and he fell asleep.