The Ruler of Ponies and Men

by Boopy Doopy

(13-4) The Last Moment Before

A second later, we were in Ponyville, in Twilight’s castle. I didn’t know why, but it felt weird to think that after so many months in Equestria, I’d never been to Ponyville. It was supposed to be a part of the Equestrian experience to go to Ponyville, but somehow I never went there, not even once. To be fair though, the whole time I’d been distracted with other more important things.

We were teleported into what looked to be an office inside the castle, Twilight frowning as she didn’t see herself.

“Well, if I’m not here, we’re going to have to ask around,” she said, looking around the room, probably to see if she could tell where she left off to. “Normally I’d keep a list of what I was doing for the day on my desk, but I remember trying to get away from doing that around the time my friends and I started the School of Friendship… this is going to be a little bit difficult.”

"What’s going on, Twilight?” Cadance asked as the purple pony looked around. “Tell me! If there’s something going on that I can help with-”

“You can help by not asking about it,” I told her, interrupting her. “You’re going to find out in a few minutes, okay? Just stop asking about it.”

“Twilight?” she asked again anyway, making the mare turn towards her. “We’re sisters. Can you really not trust me with what’s going on?” She looked right into her eyes as she said it, and I thought I saw Twilight wavering.

“I… we can trust you,” she said, “but with this, it’s best you don’t know until we- it’s best you don’t know yet. I’m sorry. With everything that’s happened, even though I don’t agree with Alex’s way of going about this, it’s best if you just don’t know. It’s only going to be a few minutes of waiting before we tell you, okay?”

“At least tell me what he meant when he said you need to find the past version of you. You didn’t time travel, did you? What happens in the future that you and Sombra need to come back here?”

“We did time travel,” she said. “I didn’t want to, but since we’re already here, we might as well see this whole thing through.”

“As for the future,” I said, “we’re going to tell you once everypony we need is in one place, because I know you, and I know that you’re just the kind of pony to deny what’s going on, which is what we don’t want.”

“What? This isn’t about me, is it?” she asked. “What did I do?”

“That’s the part we’re not going to say until we get everypony together. Now let’s find this world’s Twilight so we can get this whole mess fixed.”

Cadance continued to try and ask what was going on, but Twilight and I effectively stopped answering her questions and remained silent, to the point where she finally took the hint and stopped asking. She followed us silently as we searched for Twilight’s past version of herself, staring around the castle before moving into Ponyville proper. I was forced to mostly stay in the shadows at first, although when ponies saw me, they didn’t have much of a reaction. I assumed it was because I just looked too different from what Sombra traditionally looked like. My coat and mane grew out quite a bit over the last however many months I’d been here, and I had it styled differently than I used to have it during my first few months here. You could still tell it was me if you knew what I looked like, but not so much that I was instantly recognizable. I assumed it was part of the reason why Cadance was going along with helping us.

We went from business to business looking and came across nothing. Twilight made sure to keep the fact that she was from the past to herself as we went around, which was good. As well, a few of her friends gave me looks like they could almost tell who I was, but not quite. Regardless, they didn’t comment about me.

“Where would she be?” the purple mare asked as she tapped a hoof, the three of us standing in front of Sugarcube Corner. “I- maybe we should just get to Princess Celestia now and have her tell the past version of me what we talked about later?”

“We have time to find her,” I said. “It’s no trouble. The clock we’re working against isn’t that short. Although if too much time passes, we’ll just have to get over there. Luckily though, we’re not at that point yet.”

“How much time do we have in the past?” she asked. “The time I used that spell, it only gave me about a minute to say something.”

“Probably three or four hours,” I explained. “It hasn’t even been half an hour yet. We have plenty of time. Although maybe you’re right in that we should just get going… but I’d like to check around for a little while longer.”

“Check around for who?” somepony, Pinkie Pie, suddenly asked, appearing seemingly out of nowhere like she seemed to do. “Oh! Are you having a hide and seek competition? I know every hiding spot in Ponyville! I wanna play!”

“Do you know where I last was, Pinkie?” Twilight asked as the mare hopped up and down like a rabbit. “Did I tell you what I was going to do today? Where am I supposed to be right now?”

“Oh! Oh! Oh!” she cheered. “I know! I know! You said you were going to meet with Princess Celestia for tea! And I suggested you make pickle and hot sauce and peanut butter sandwiches, and you said you thought that was the most disgusting thing you’ve ever heard of, and I said-”

“That’s enough, Pinkie Pie,” I told her. “Twilight, take us there.”

She didn’t wait, immediately lighting up her horn and placing the three of us in Celestia’s throne room. I couldn’t help but close my eyes for a second, as though it would protect me from who I was about to see, but when I opened them, I saw that it was empty. It turned out she wasn’t there, which made sense. Of course the two wouldn’t sit in the throne room and have tea.

“I assume she and you would be in Celestia’s room?” I said. “Take us there.”

Once again, she took us there immediately, this time though, opting to walk rather than teleport. It was only a second though before we made it to where she was; her room was in the first hallway from the throne room.

“Are you sure this is the best idea?” Twilight whispered seriously before we entered, the two of us able to hear both Celestia and the past version of herself talking. “She had a fit when she saw you last time. I know you have a protection spell, but are you sure this is the best idea?”

“No, but it’s the last one I have, otherwise I wouldn't have used this spell. Besides, she was brought to that point by Cadance. As long as she acts appropriately, there shouldn’t be any issue.” As I said it, I remembered the few interactions I had with her. She didn’t try to attack me, except when she was prompted to by Cadance. She did absolutely despise me, but I was making progress with her before she was pushed over the edge. I felt confident that right now, she’d be okay, even if she hated me, as long as Cadance didn't screw that up.

“I brought her to what point?” the pink alicorn asked, sounding a bit nervous. “Tell me what’s going on!”

“You’ll learn in a few seconds,” I responded casually as we three opened the door and stepped into the room, hoping this would be the end of it all.

Comments

[Mitril]

Remember no Celestia on her throne ,being wanted by her ponies or this mess will repeat
11097643

[Ali della Morte]

Oh, I'm looking forward to what comes next!

[Draice]

Ah the cliffhanger teaser.

[ChakatRedstripe]

Good chapter

[tsaukpaetra]

They wasted half an hour wandering around? Forgot Spike can send letters, eh? 😈

[Misty Shadow]

I was forced to mostly stay in the shadows at first, although when ponies saw me, they didn’t have much of a reaction. I assumed it was because I just looked too different from what Sombra traditionally looked like. My coat and mane grew out quite a bit over the last however many months I’d been here, and I had it styled differently than I used to have it during my first few months here.

Somepony remind Sombra to get a haircut before he tries to invade Ponyville again.