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// (13-1) Conversation 
// Story: The Ruler of Ponies and Men 
// by Boopy Doopy 
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I blinked at Twilight for a second, seeing that she brought her brother but not seeing Amore, my expression quickly changing to something between anger and fear.
“Where is she?” I asked loudly, almost yelling. “You said you were going to get her, not your brother! Go get her now!”
“Alex, I-”
“Go now!” I demanded, giving her a look that told her I didn’t want her to waste time. A second later, she disappeared, leaving Shining Armor and I standing in front of Celestia and Cadance. I looked to the stallion to see his expression was just as angry as Celestia’s, if not more so. He was staring dead at Cadance, his eyes locked into hers. Before he could say anything though, Celestia spoke, using a voice that practically shook the room we were in.
“I am tired of your lies, Sombra!” the alicorn bellowed. “I will not keep playing games with you!”
“Celestia, please! Just give Twilight-” I couldn’t get out more than that before she fired at me, closing her eyes and unleashing what had to be the sum force of the magic inside of her, directing the beam at me. I closed my eyes and braced myself, but l was only pushed to the other end of the room, into a bookcase. It hurt a bit, but didn't feel as bad as it could have been. I felt glad that the protection spell was still on me, and could only imagine what that might have done had it not been.
“Why do you play with my emotions like this?” she asked angrily, the sound of hurt almost making it into her voice. “After all that you’ve done, you still continue to-”
“Stop, Celestia,” I said, doing my best to not yell. Getting into a shouting match was just going to make it that much harder to try and reason with her, if I even had a chance at all. 
“Twilight is going to get Princess Amore right now,” I said, looking into her hate filled eyes. “Give her a few minutes and-”
 “He’s lying to you, Princess!” Cadance interrupted, pointing a hoof at me. “Don’t believe a word he says! All he’s trying to do is trick you, because he wants to see you hurting! He gets enjoyment from it!”
The accusation was so ridiculous, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes and shake my head at it. “All I’ve wanted since I got here was for you to listen to me,” I told her. “If you care about Amore, you’ll give Twilight time to come back with her. I’m sure it’ll be no more than five minutes. I’m not sure why she didn’t grab her when she was bringing her brother, but-”
“You know he’s trying to manipulate you, Princess!” Cadance interrupted again. “That’s what he does! He’s been doing it this whole time! Just look at what he did to Twilight!”
She looked between me and Cadance, as if debating who she should trust. I’m certain she would’ve picked the pink alicorn had Shining Armor not stepped in.
“Princess Celestia,” he started, sounding tired. “Cadance… my wife- my ex wife- she’s lying to you,” he said. The alicorn looked like she flinched back at his words. “Everything you accuse Alex of being is what she is,” he said flatly, pointing an accusing hoof at the mare. “She’s a witch, honestly.”
“Shiny?” she asked, making me tilt my head in confusion. “What are you saying? What’s gotten into you?”
Of course, she was acting. That’s what she did best, it seemed. I wondered why she didn’t star in a broadway musical with how much she liked to act. She was clearly good at it and had a passion.
“How could you say those things?” she asked as I rolled my eyes at her fakeness. “Do you really want to compare me to Sombra? How could you do this?”
“Stop lying, Cadance!” he yelled angrily, taking a step closer to her. “Why do you care so much about this?” he asked. “It shouldn’t matter! And yet you’re throwing everything away for what? Why? You had a husband and daughter and a kingdom and now what?”
“What are you talking about, Shining?” she asked, trying to feign exasperation. “Has Sombra taken over your mind? What’s gotten into you?”
“Everything she’s accusing him of, Princess,” Shining Armor told her bitterly, “that is what she is. Everything has spun so out of control with Alex because of her.”
“He’s taken over Equestria, Princess!” she argued. “Everypony knows so, and he has it so that nopony disagrees! I wonder if he’s used some sort of mind control on everypony with how closely they listen.”
“If I had mind control, then why wouldn’t I use it on you, Cadance?” I asked. “Why is it that everypony seems fit to kill me at the first chance they get? How come when I explain myself time and time again, even right now, no one seems to want to believe me about anything?”
“It was you that sent Celestia away, Cadance,” Shining Armor said. “You did that after you edged her on. You let her hate fester and then, when it was convenient, abandoned her. How do you explain that?”
“I don’t know what’s gotten into them, Princess,” Cadance tried to say, although by now, Celestia was looking between the two of us, her hateful expression changed to something less so. It was a good sign, and something I could tell was making the pink alicorn worried.
“What’s more likely?” Shining asked. “That everypony else is lying, or that she’s lying? She's been the common denominator in all of this, and I wish you would see that.”
Celestia looked around the room doubtfully, seemingly considering what we were saying. Everypony was silent for a few seconds, and if I had to guess, I would have said she was leaning toward our side of the situation. However, after a moment, Cadance spoke up again, scowling in frustration and anger.
“I’m not going to let his influence get to you, Princess,” she said as she lit up her horn, aiming right for me. “I’m putting an end to this right now.”
With that, she hurled her magic my way, a beam that looked even more powerful than Celestia’s was. As she did though, Princess Luna, along with Twilight and Amore and all of her friends, stepped in front of me to protect me.