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// (14-1) Hate And Contempt 
// Story: The Ruler of Ponies and Men 
// by Boopy Doopy 
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Twilight’s teacup, or rather, the teacup that belonged to the past version of her, dropped and shattered to the floor at the sight of us. She stepped close to the white alicorn next to her, looking shocked by the sudden turn of events. She glanced at her teacher, then back to the three of us, eyeing herself in particular. She seemed to dislike what was happening.
Celestia’s face was just as neutral as the day I first saw it, clean of everything except the surprise in her eyes. She almost seemed to have no idea what she was looking at until her eyes fell on me. When they did, that surprise was quickly replaced with hate.
“Not this again,” I thought to myself. “We’re not going down this road a second time.”
“You need to talk to Cadance about all this hate and contempt she holds,” I started before anypony could say anything. “It needs to be fixed before it spirals completely out of control. Twilight, here, is a testament to what will happen.”
She looked to Twilight and blinked, as though she was seeing the mare for the first time. Then she actually frowned, Twilight shrinking back a bit with the look she received.
“You didn’t time travel, did you?” Celestia asked seriously, the other version of her almost pressing her body into the princess as if to protect herself. “I’ve spoken to you before about time travel,” she said angrily. “You should know by now that-”
“I didn’t time travel, Princess!” she interrupted, pointing a hoof at me. “Alex did, but he did it for a good reason. We want to-”
“Oh, so it was you, Sombra,” she interrupted accusingly, staring right at me. Her neutral expression gave way to just plain dislike edging on hate, and it made me frown in return. She opened her mouth to say more, but I stopped her before she could. I didn’t want to start down this road again.
“You need to talk to your niece about her position in Equestria,” I said. “The future is such a mess because of your decision to pick Twilight over Cadance to rule Equestria when you retire. I don’t care if you deny her or give it to her, but you have to-”
“How do you know about that?” Celestia ask, now looking very frustrated. She glared right at me as the present Twilight flinched at her words. The past Twilight gasped loudly, and Cadance had her mouth hung open in utter shock, seemingly in disbelief.
“How far in the future are you two from where you have access to that information?” she pressed. “This shouldn’t be something-”
 “Why?” Cadance suddenly demanded. “I- you- what? Why?” She stomped a hoof as she said it. “What has Twilight done to deserve getting it over me?” She sounded incredibly hurt by the revelation, and her expression looked that way, too. I couldn’t say I cared much though, so long as this all was resolved.
“Why?” Cadance continued, staring directly at Celestia, seemingly about to cry. “How is that fair at all? After all I've done, you're just going to... why?”
“That’s- that’s too much responsibility, princess!” the past version of Twilight now broke in. “I can’t handle that! That’s just- I can’t do it! Cadance is much better suited to running Equestria than I am. If you do retire, you should let her rule.”
That was good to hear, but I heard it before. Even in the present time, they were both in agreement about that fact. Celestia, however, seemed like she would be having none of it.
“Well right now is neither the time nor place to discuss such matters,” Celestia tried to say, “so I’d suggest-”
“Yes it is!” I suddenly said, sharpness in my voice. “Right now is exactly the time and place to get this all settled. That was the whole point of coming back here, so settle it now! I don’t care how, just do it!”
“It’s fine, pick Twilight over me,” Cadance said, her voice indicating that it clearly wasn’t fine. “I can see how little I mean to you. Thanks for letting me learn from Sombra of all ponies.” With that, she flipped her mane out of her face and strode out of the room to another part of the castle.
There were a few seconds after she left that no one said anything, the tension in the room building. Celestia gave me a death glare as the past version of Twilight said, “Is that true? Are you- you’re not really going to make me take your place, are you? Because that’s not something I can possibly do. It’s too much pressure.”
“We’ll discuss it later, Twilight,” Celestia said, looking my way the whole time. “Now is not the time, especially with Sombra in the room. It would not surprise me if he were setting up the past to rule the future. He is quite cunning in that way, and might see it as his only option.”
“Well, my name is Alex, and that is what happens if things keep going the way they are,” I told her. “That’s not a future I particularly care to see either, as it turns out, so you need to work it out now because it’s just completely ridiculous how much things have spiraled because of you three. Cadance in particular.”
“I’ll go get Cadance and talk to her,” my Twilight suggested. “You stay here with Celestia while I grab her. I’m sure Cadance will-”
“No, you stay here with Celestia, Twilight,” I told her with authority. “I’ll go after Cadance. I know how the first two times I was alone with her went, and I’m not interested in playing with my life for a third time, thank you very much.”
With that, I stepped out and hurried after the problem in all of this.