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// (12-4) Two Minutes 
// Story: The Ruler of Ponies and Men 
// by Boopy Doopy 
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In a second, Twilight was in the Crystal Empire, right in the room of the castle that she knew her older brother would be in.
“Shining!” she yelled as she popped in, causing the stallion to jump. “Where is Princess Amore staying?” she asked.
“Uh, she’s in the guest houses near the castle garden,” he answered, confused. “There’s nopony else in them. But why-”
She didn’t wait for him to finish, quickly teleporting to where she told him to go. She couldn’t waste time. She promised two minutes or less, but wanted to show up again in less than thirty seconds. Grab the princess, teleport back, hope Alex was still there. Thirty seconds, and no more.
There weren’t many homes in the guest houses Shining Armor directed her to, only about ten or so. It took about twenty five seconds total to go through all the houses, teleporting in, shouting for the unicorn, and when she didn’t appear a few seconds later, moving on to the next. It was not long at all before she was checking the last house and finding nopony there.
Now she went through more carefully, this time taking a little bit longer in each house. She didn’t stop to search each room, but she did stay long enough to shout her name again and do a once through very quickly. Once again, she got to the last home and found nothing, and became very anxious about what she should do next.
“Come on, come on, come on,” she thought frustratedly, knowing she couldn’t take too much time. “Where is she?” She clenched her jaw and tapped her hoof in frustration as she looked around, trying to figure out where she was. She was quickly approaching the two minute mark, and hated the idea of going even a second over. It was already a bad idea leaving him alone, and taking time to search around for Amore would be even worse. She would just have to hope that she and Alex would be enough to face Celestia and Cadance while Starlight got her friends gathered together, a plan she was not confident in at all.
“Get Shining Armor, get back to Sombra,” she said aloud to herself, knowing her two minutes was up. “Can’t waste any more time.” With that, she lit up her horn again to grab her brother and head back to the Archives.



I felt like Jack hiding from the giant in Jack and the Beanstalk as Celestia approached. I closed my eyes tight and clenched my jaw as she passed through into the archives, wondering what I would do. I couldn’t use magic, at least not without breaking my protection spell, and I didn’t really think she would listen to reason. I racked my brain to try and come up with something while I waited for Twilight.
Cadance passed by closer to me than Celestia did, nearly bumping into me. “I know he’s here,” she said. “I just can’t tell where.”
“Sombra!” the white alicorn called “Alex! Whoever you claim to be! Come out and face me! Do not be a coward!”
Yeah, right, like I was going to surrender and be killed by her. Although it did put a memory in my head. I was calling back the scene with Doctor Marks from however long ago. Whether or not he was real, it was decent advice that he gave me about what I should do, even if I was reluctant to take it both then and now.
“I’m not sure apologizing would curb her anger, but maybe…”
Right now, I could only hold out hope that Twilight would get back here with Princess Amore. She was complaining about that before, so that should put her at peace at least. I had no idea what to do until then though.
“Show yourself!” she shouted angrily. “Be a stallion and bring forth yourself!”
I took a breath and drowned my fear. It would be better if I showed myself now than if she found me. I had a plan, a protection spell in case that failed, and a way out if it came to it. I knew I wanted Fluttershy with me if I had to use that spell, but if worst came to worse, then this was just gonna have to be it. It would take no more than two or three seconds to cast if need be. Better to try something than to wait for her to get fed up and start sending attacks at random.
“Princess Celestia,” I called as I took a step out to reveal myself. I made sure to use the title ‘princess’ even though I didn’t consider her one after all these months. I wanted to limit any reason for her to attack me, which was something that was going to be very hard to do.
She turned to me with a twisted face, practically growling at the sight of me. It was all I could do to not shrink back in fear at the sight of her. I kept my face neutral, not wanting to portray fear or anger or anything else.
“Oh, this is such a bad idea,” I couldn't help but think as I took a brave step forward, going through the characters I would need to cast for that time travel spell in my head should I need it.
“You know,” she growled lowly, baring her teeth and bending down a bit like a cat stalking its prey, “I told myself that the second I saw you, I’d show you my full force. And now-”
“I’m sorry, Princess Celestia,” I interrupted, not wanting to let her build up her ferocity more than it already was. "I apologize for what I've done to you." She blinked in genuine surprise for a moment before going back to frowning angrily at me.
“Do not play with me, Sombra,” she threatened as she stalked closer. “If you play with me, you will regret it.” She was giving me a chance to speak and not immediately attacking, which I took as a good sign. I knew I needed to make the most of this opportunity.
“I’m sorry for hurting you and blowing past you when you were clearly in pain,” I told her. “I should have listened to you and not pressed the way I did when I met you, and I shouldn’t have told you to just get over it when I last saw you. It wasn’t right, and I’m sorry.”
I didn’t know how sorry I actually was. At the very least I could say I was… slightly sympathetic. I could understand her position, especially with Cadance’s involvement, even if I wasn’t very sorry.
I made sure to keep the pink alicorn in the corner of my eye, expecting her to be moving, but luckily, she wasn’t. She was caught up in what I was saying, too, which was good. I hoped there might be a way I could resolve everything right here with just words. Maybe bring up something about how she was upset with Celestia brushing her aside. Not that I would let them get away with their actions. They needed to know that what they did was wrong, and I wanted to make sure they did, but as long as they weren't trying to kill me right now, I would take it.
“You’re lying to me,” Celestia said, her voice still very angry but not quite as ferocious as before. “I do not want to hear your lies! What you did to my friend-”
“Amore is alive,” I interrupted, getting her to gasp. This was a good spot to have her in. I just needed to wait for Twilight and all would be resolved. Well, not really, but it was one thing at a time.
“Twilight found her pieces and is bringing her here right now,” I continued. “She said she would only be about two-”
“Do not lie to me!” she said, yelling again now. “I do not want to listen to your lies! You think you can play with my emotions like this? Like you did before?”
“I’m telling you she’s alive,” I responded, trying to keep fear out of my voice. “Twilight’s going to get her right now. She’s going to be here with her in two minutes, I promise.” She looked ready to argue, and so I quickly said, “I need you to just please trust me when I say I’m telling the truth. She’s going to be here.”
She looked like she wanted to do anything but, glaring angrily at me before glancing at Cadance. I knew she was contemplating trusting me, and I could only hope she would.
“I will give you until she arrives, but I swear if you lie to me again, you will regret it.”
“Thank you,” I responded gratefully. “I promise that-”
As I was saying it, Twilight returned, bringing with her Shining Armor. Amore was nowhere to be seen, and Celestia’s eye twitched.