Return of Amore

02 The Young (5/5)

"Mother!" Amore woke to the sound of Shining Armor in her ear. He shook Amore's body and continued his call, "Hey, mother! Snap out of it!"

"What?" Amore shook her head, immediately craning it with a hoof after a sharp pang emerged from her head. "What happened?"

"Flurry teleported off somewhere," Shining informed her. "Help me find her."

Amore noted the mares from the lounge tables have scoured across the building with their foals. Each called the name of Amore's granddaughter, anxiety drenched in their faces. She felt her body grow heavy, weighed down by overwhelming dread.

"Yes," Amore stuttered. "I shall."

Shining Armor hurried to the entrance of the building. "I'm going to gather guards to form a search party. You keep looking around here just in case she comes back."

When Shining exited the building, Amore joined the search with the residents. They looked through the tubes and beams beneath the ceiling, but the young princess was nowhere to be seen.

The surrounding ponies grew more frantic the longer their young princess remained hidden. Amore recalled how Cadance described her to be unyielding through any predicament, but Amore could not find the strength to feign confidence. She was no different from the mares and foals who became consumed by angst.

After checking around the tubes again, Amore paused at a strange feeling. An amalgam of darkness and sorrow that was quick to vex her.

Like a moth drawn to a lantern, Amore followed the aura of this feeling as if hypnotized. She found herself outside the building, rounding it into a small alleyway of crystal and litter. She continued through the narrow path until she reached a dead end.

She discovered a figure, hooded in red, lurking at the side of an ore dumpster. The figure moved with caution, slow and steady. In moments, Amore could make out a small pink foal cowering away from the hooded figure.

"It's okay, Flurry," the figure said. "I won't hurt you. I only wish to guide you back to your family."

Amore stepped closer without making a sound. Upon closer look, she discovered the pink foal to be her granddaughter, Flurry Heart.

"Flurry," Amore called, earning the attention of her granddaughter and the hooded figure.

"Princess Amore," the figure said.

Amore gaped at the figure, finally recognizing the voice of the figure. "Sombra, is that you?"

Flurry Heart rushed over to Amore and hid behind her forelegs. Amore calmed the filly with a rub of her hoof. "You found Flurry for us," Amore said. "Thank you. But how did you know she was missing?"

Sombra's emerald eyes seeped under his hood. Amore could sense the sadness in his eyes as it looked upon the frightened little princess.

"Ever since you left the castle, I've been following you," Sombra confessed. "I wasn't in my intention to do so, but..."

"I suppose this has to do with you formerly being a tyrant," she concluded. "But if they allowed you to run free, then they must have trust in you."

"I don't know about that. Even with good intentions, I have frightened Flurry as well."

"Why not take off the hood?" Amore suggested as she hoisted Flurry in her hoof. "Don't you know how foals are wary of strangers? ... Wait, did you say as well?"

"That's right." Sombra lowered his hood and revealed his face to the two princesses. "This moment was not our first."

"It was during a day I let Cadance play at the gardens, was it? I remember getting distracted in a discussion with somepony. Cadance had run off chasing after a butterfly and somehow ended up in the alleys of the city."

"You remember that," Sombra said, surprised. "Can you tell me anything else?"

"I remember sending my guards to look for her and joined in the effort as well. Just when I feared the worst, I found you standing in a dark alley just like this. I saw you trying to persuade Cadance to come out of a toppled barrel, but she wouldn't budge until she saw me."

"The events are uncanny, aren't they?" Sombra chuckled, yet Amore recognized the somber in his voice. "I guess some things never change."

"Pessimistic as always." Amore shook her head. "Then I guess it falls to me to prove you wrong."

Sombra quirked a brow. "What do you mean?"

Amore whisked Flurry Heart onto her back and began her exit from the alley. "Come with me," she said. "We're going to spend some time at the castle."