Return of Amore

02 The Young (1/5)

Save me... Please, save me from this place...

A ghastly voice beckoned through complete darkness. Amore had trekked through the void in haste, desperate to find its origin.

But no matter how far she galloped or how keenly she honed on the sound, it rang farther from her. It was like it echoed from a faraway place where it seemed hopeless for her to reach.

Amore's heart went ablaze at her pessimism. The outcome of abandoning the distressed voice was something Amore would never relent to. So, she heaved her body forth again, hoping to draw closer. Even when she felt something strange tugging her down, she powered through its grasp and heaved forward.

Black tendrils had encroached from the empty void and wounded across Amore's body. But even then, she continued to push forward. She wouldn't abandon the voice. Though she knew nothing of its source, whether or not dangerous, she would persist for its sake.

Save me... Please, save me from this place...

"It's okay," Amore spoke, her voice ragged from her struggle from the crushing tendrils. "I'm coming. Just please, tell me where to find you."

Save me... Please...

Mother... Mother... Mother!

"Wha..." Amore's eyes peeled open before a bright light. The flash of light burned Amore's eyes for only a moment before being saved by the shadow of her daughter. Princess Cadance stared down upon her with troubled violet eyes.

"Mother," Cadance said, pulling down a blanket draped beneath Amore's neck.

Amore finally remembered that she was in bed. After her long trip to the Crystal Castle, she became fatigued and resigned for the day at a guest room.

"It's okay," Cadance said, rubbing off beads of sweat from her mother's forehead. "You just had a nightmare."

Amore raised on her haunch and darted her eyes through the luxurious crystalline room with grand furnishings. Though she felt relieved to be out of that darkness, a part of her wanted to delve back to find that voice. She took a breath to collect herself.

"Thank you, Cadance," Amore said with a frail smile. "I don't know why my mind would disturb me like that."

Cadance pulled her mother's head beneath her chin, grooming Amore's frazzled mane with a hoof. "All that matters is that it's over. You'll never have to deal with them alone as long as you're around your friends and family."

"And I plan to never leave them again," Amore said. "Well, once I remember who those friends and family are, that is."

Cadance kissed her mother's forehead. "We'll take it one day at a time. For now, how about we have breakfast?"