Love Less eventually awakes from his slumber, drowsy and unaware.
"Love Less..." Cadance calls to him. The legless stallion struggles to focus his eyes or his mind on anything. "Love Less!"
The embodiment of hatred suddenly whips his head up and makes an attempt to look the princess in the eye. "Wh- What happened?" the cold-hearted pony tries to wheel himself forward, but is shocked to find the wheels of his chair have disappeared, "Give me those back!"
"Not until you release the Princess."
"I will do no such thing!"
"Then forget it. Stay down here. I'll find some other method of releasing Celestia."
Love Less chortles, reaching for the remote, "There are no other methods! The control I-" he quickly realises the remote for the cages is no longer in his possession, "Where is it?"
Cadance waves the device in his face, "Tell me how to use it."
"That control is magically linked to me. It responds only to my desires."
"I had a feeling that would be the case." Cadance takes out baseball bat from her arsenal. It looks like a standard wooden bat, complete with red heart-shaped borders around the handle and a single, large pink love heart at the end of the bat. Cadance thrusts the bat underneath Love Less' chin. "Do you desire to release Celestia?"
Love Less laughs at the suggestion, "It's going to take much more than your silly little Love Arsenal to make me release her."
Cadance taps the scouter, taking a reading of his power level. The Princess gasps, "Fifteen-hundred."
"You look shocked, Princess. Who'd have thought that someone like me could harbour so much hatred?"
The Princess of Love takes the bat, pulls it to one side and slams it across his face. From the connection, an explosion of hearts burst out and fill the air, but as they settle, Love Less merely laughs at her. In response, she strikes him again, and again, and again, catching only glimpses of his smug face through the endless flurry of hearts. The scouter fuzzes as it struggles to take a reading.
"Cadance!" Celestia pleads, "Restrain yourself!"
The Princess pulls herself back from the senseless beating, allowing a moment for the air to clear. The scouter blips and bleeps as it struggles to find a coherent reading for Love Less. Cadance is met by surprise as the first reading creeps up and beyond twenty-three hundred. "What? His power level, it's rising!"
The reading from the scouter increases exponentially with every passing second with no signs of slowing down. She observes Love Less as his mental health visibly degrades in front of her eyes. Three thousand: his mad cackle has turned into a quiet hysteria. Four thousand: his arms recede inward and he begins to cry through his laughter. Five thousand: He begins to rock slowly back and forth. His laughter ceases completely. Six thousand: Love Less locks eyes with Cadance, tears streaming down his face. Seven thousand: He stops blinking, stops moving, and stops crying, but continues to stare directly into Cadance's eyes. Eight thousand: Complete unresponsiveness. His stare becomes lifeless. His entire body remains deadly still as the scouter's readings still increase. Eight thousand five hundred. Eight thousand, six. Eight thousand, seven...
The Princess of Love slowly removes the scouter from her face. Celestia observes the fear in her eyes. "Cadance, what does the scouter say about his power level?"
The sight of Love Less' beaten and broken heart sends floods of memories into the mind of Mi Amore Cadenza. She recalls with extreme clarity the day she met Love Less, the days they spent together, and the way they parted. Strong emotions of grief and sorrow flood over her as she continues to recall the events of the past. The Princess drops the scouter as she stumbles over to Love Less, falling down onto her knees and embracing the emotionally damaged stallion. Her heart becomes heavy, she struggles to catch her breath, and her eyes well up with tears.
"I'm sorry." Cadance mutters. "I'm so, so sorry, Lovemore. It's my fault. It's all my fault. I've passed the blame onto you for everything that transpired between us, but you're not the one to blame." the tears of Cadance's pain drop down onto Love Less' shoulder, "You loved me with all your heart, but I never loved you in return. I thought I was helping you, but my 'help' has turned you into the heartless monster you've since become. Love is the source of your sorrow, which is why my attempts to cure you always backfired, and it's taken me all these years to realise that. I just don't know how to fix you."
Celestia stares on at the unfolding emotional outbreak, "Cadance, you're no more to blame for this than he is; you had no way of knowing how he would react. You saw a pony whose life was without love and strived to change that. What you couldn't have foresaw was that the only thing he loved was power. Love Less strives to control others."
"But he loved me."
"He only loved the power he thought he could acquire with you at his side. He would have used you like he used everypony else he ever met. He's a monster."
Cadance picks herself up and dries her tears. She kicks the scouter out of the middle of the floor and settles herself down on the ground. Her head hangs low and she takes a moment to compose herself. As her horn glows, the room is temporarily fills with a bright light. Out of the light comes a golden lyre, drifting downward until it settles into the hooves of the Princess.
The Princess of Love slowly begins to pluck at the strings of the lyre, creating a beautifully sad tune. The sounds reverberate around the dimly lit room as she starts to sing;
Oh, how it is, this face I see,
These battle-scar lines and eyes of green,
These hooves beating down a lonely road,
With a treacherous mind and a heart of stone,
Lay waste to the lives of the souls who pray,
For his mind to be freed from this damned decay.
For years without care, without joy or love,
No sense to be found from the stars above,
Driven to hate, and strive to feed,
On the kindness of others to fuel his greed,
But here through madness I now descend,
To bring all this pain to its rightful end.
As the melody plays, the words of Cadance's song creates a soothing harmony fuelled by her powerful magic, and sprawls its way across the room, piercing itself directly into Love Less' heart. From there, it spreads throughout his body, slowly but surely bringing him back from the brink of insanity. The scouter blips, prompting Celestia to reach from her prison to grab it from the floor. She awkwardly pushes it over her ear and observes the reading as it gradually declines. "It's over nine-thousand," the Princess mutters, "but it's working."