The Ruler of Ponies and Men

by Boopy Doopy

(14-3) Ends Of Equestria

It turned out those words had an effect on Cadance, because suddenly, she was paralyzed, staring right at me, apparently waiting for me to continue. I was glad for it, even if I expected her to react a bit differently, more harshly namely.

“Don’t just stand there,” I told her. “Let’s get going back to Celestia.” I turned around and took a few steps toward where we should be going, but stopped when I realized she wasn’t following me.

“Who… who are you?” she asked, whatever shock she had still in her voice. “Not even King Sombra would say something like that! What happened to you?”

“So much,” I responded simply, tiredly, “and you and her are at the center of it all. Now let’s go and talk to her and resolve whatever dumb issue you have about not ruling Equestria so I can just… probably at best, fade out of existence."

“What do you mean ‘fade out of existence’?” she asked. “Tell me what’s going on! You’re not saying you’re gonna die if I don't talk to her, are you?”

“I’m saying I probably will after this, but that was what was always going to happen, wasn’t it? Honestly, it was really all leading up to this, although I guess this is slightly better than the other options.”

“I- you- even if you’re King Sombra, you can’t just-”

“Please don’t start with me about morality and what I should or shouldn’t do,” I interrupted. "Every single pony I know, probably with the exception of Fluttershy… oh, no, Princess Luna, too. Besides those two, every pony was dead set on killing me without a second thought. In fact, you all have killed me twice before Alex came into existence. You were just telling Shining Armor that he needed to get the Crystal Heart, full well intent on killing me without even speaking to me, at just the sight of me. As far as I understand, none of you ponies have morals. At least, you and Celestia don’t. The others might have something inside of them, Twilight especially.”

“You… what happened in the future?” she asked. “You’re not making any sense! How did everything go so wrong that you’re trying to act like the good guy?”

“I already told you what happened. Now come on. I am absolutely serious when I say that I will kill you if you don’t talk to her. This is not a mess I’m keen on dealing with for very much longer, regardless of what happens to me.”

I turned around again and walked back to Celestia’s room, this time not bothering to stop, knowing Cadance would follow me soon enough. Sure enough, she was right behind me by the time the two of us were walking back into the room. Celestia was talking softly to the present Twilight about something, who was still standing in the same spot, wearing a look that said she might be coming around.

“Will you truly be bringing back Princess Amore, Sombra?” Celestia asked, eyes wide and hopeful, a little bit wet as she stared at me. “Is that possible?”

“Sure,” I shrugged, “but before that, you and Cadance have to talk this Equestria business out. I want it settled right now, and I don’t care how.”

I could see out of the corner of my eye Cadance go back to frowning as Celestia’s shock faltered into almost frowning. “I- I am not keen on Cadance ruling Equestria. I do believe that Twilight Sparkle is more fit for the throne than she is.”

“Why?” Cadance asked, once again sounding upset, almost exasperated. “I’ve been taking care of the Crystal Empire for years now! What makes her more ready than me?”

“I believe you act more with your emotions than you do with logic at times,” she said honestly, the barest hint of shame entering her expression.

I almost laughed out loud at that. They both acted like that, Celestia even more so than her. They were exactly the same in how they acted, almost like they were mother and daughter. I would’ve believed they were so if not for remembering that she called Celestia ‘aunty’.

“That’s not to say you don’t do good work in Equestria, it just means that Twilight is more suited to-”

“If you're talking about right now, of course I'm upset! I specifically told you that you were leaving me out!” she argued, stomping a hoof in anger. “I said that you weren’t giving me the same chance to prove myself as you were Twilight!”

“I have-”

“No you haven’t! What about fighting King Sombra? Or thinking of the plan to hide our magic inside Twilight when Tirek showed up? Or actually running a country? Do those things not matter?”

“The way you’re acting right now is proof enough that Twilight is better suited to running Equestria than you are, Cadance,” Celestia said calmly. “Please just be satisfied with what you have. You know I have big things planned for you, my niece.”

“No you don’t!” she yelled back. “You don’t! You said that before and now you’re just giving Equestria to somepony who doesn’t even want it? How can you say something like that when you’re just going back on what you told me? You promise me when I was a foal that Equestria would be mine!”

I took a seat on a chair near the back of the room, wanting to rest for what would probably be quite a long conversation. I truly could not care less how it turned out, so long as it was finished. Both Celestia and Cadance glanced to me as I sat down, but continued their conversation, Celestia’s voice staying level, and Cadance’s getting more and more angry.

Twilight walked up to me, quietly asking, “Are you sure this is gonna work? This might just make things worse, you know.”

“I think it will,” I said. “Cadance insisted to me she would never do what she did in the present, which is a good sign. I just hope she actually means that and isn't just saying that for our sake.”

She frowned sadly as she paused for a moment before asking, “Are you sure this is what you want? You and I both know there’s a high likelihood this won’t end well for you.”

I sighed at that. “No, not at all,” I responded quietly. “But you take what you can get, and unfortunately, this is the very best I can have. Hell, I remember my very first thought entering Equestria being that this wouldn’t end well for me. Really, was there any other way this could end?”

“You know,” the past version of Twilight called from far away, coming up to us nervously, “messing with time travel is the very worst thing anypony could possibly do, either for themselves or anypony else. The kinds of trouble it could cause-”

“We both fully understand exactly what we’re getting into,” I interrupted her. “I’ve had months to think about what this could do to me, and decided that whatever happens is better than the options I have.”

Cadance and Celestia were now both fully distracted, the latter’s expression getting more cold as she listened to her niece. Cadance wasn’t yelling anymore, but still had anger in her voice, a seriousness that I hoped meant the two were getting somewhere.

“If this means I fade out of existence, then… at this point, I’m willing to accept that,” I continued carefully. “I don’t think anything would happen to Sombra, but I’d be surprised if nothing happened to me. Actually, I’d probably be upset if nothing happened, because this is all so…” I sighed heavily, letting the thought hang in the air.

The present Twilight only looked at her hooves for a second before glancing at the past version of her. Her past self had her mouth hung open wide, jaw practically on the floor at what she heard. I only stared back at her, waiting to hear exactly what I expected her to say.

“You- are you going to commit suicide?” she asked, gasping in shock. “You can’t do that! How could you even consider something like that? What happened in the future to get you to that point?”

“Is it really suicide if Alex only lives in my head?” I asked. “If I’m just supposed to be an imaginary creature or a personality or something? I honestly can’t see how it could be.”

“But you-”

“I’ve thought a lot about this,” I continued. “Whether or not I exist, I expect to retain Alex’s memories and personality and things. I’ll be… I don’t know, blocking myself off from my creation? But because I’m here right now, I get to keep those experiences and memories I have, and since I’m just a personality, since I existed at some point in the past from Sombra’s perspective, there’s no reason he won’t keep those things. I’m just fixing a personality problem is all.”

I knew it was more than that. I knew I might be killing myself off if I did this, but I was prepared for it, and was at peace with it. It would’ve been better had Fluttershy been here with me like she said she would be, but it was just the way everything in my life seemed to go.

“It won’t be going that way much longer,” I couldn’t help but think. “This is really going to be it.”

“You’re not lying are you?” Twilight asked, sounding a bit anxious. “It sounds like what you’re saying makes sense, but I don’t know enough about psychology to be able to say for certain that-”

“The long story made short is that I cast a spell on myself because of Cadance, and now I need to fix that mistake, as well as a few others at the same time by going back to this moment.”

The past version of Twilight looked at the present version of herself, who sighed and gave a nod of confirmation. “I don’t agree with what he’s doing, but Alex is right. That’s why we need to be right here, right now.”

“But this won’t-”

“Even if it does,” Twilight interrupted, raising a hoof, her face looking a bit pained. “Even if it does,” she started again, “I… if that’s what he wants to do, that’s his choice. He’s been right about most everything since he’s been here, and hasn’t lied one single time. If he thinks this is best and it’s what he wants… well, then it’s just how it’s going to happen.”

I was glad to hear it, and gave Twilight a look that told her I appreciated what she said. It didn’t seem to resolve the doubt the past version of her had, but eased it up a bit from the look she had. Not to mention, Twilight herself, the present version. I almost felt proud for how far she'd come since this had all started. Whatever trusting, naive mare existed before, it wasn't in front of me. She was still just as kind, but much more thoughtful now, and far less trusting of a pony's intentions, whether that was a good thing or bad thing. She was much better now than she was before.

With that thought, I glanced up at Cadance again, seeing her trying to interject a few times and Celestia shooting her down. She was still sitting on the bed as Cadance stood in front of her, the latter only looking like she was getting more and more angry and riled up while the former seemed cool as ever. I remembered seeing the same look on the pink alicorn's face when we were having her trial, and could never forget seeing Celestia wear the look when she began to change into Daybreaker.

“Get ready, Twilight,” I said quietly, but she didn’t need me to tell her. She could see the look herself, and already had her horn lit up, seeming like she was gathering her magic for whatever was about to happen.

"This might be a bit more difficult than we thought it would be," I continued casually as Cadance closed her eyes and lit up her own horn.

Author's Note:

All that's left is 14-4 (and probably 1 or 2 epilogues) and then Alex's story will reach it's conclusion after almost two years of telling it!

Comments

[horses are fuckin weird]

“Please don’t start with me about morality and what I should or shouldn’t do,” I interrupted. "Every single pony I know, probably with the exception of Fluttershy… oh, no, Princess Luna, too. Besides those two, every pony was dead set on killing me without a second thought. In fact, you all have killed me twice before Alex came into existence. You were just telling Shining Armor that he needed to get the Crystal Heart, full well intent on killing me without even speaking to me, at just the sight of me. As far as I understand, none of you ponies have morals. At least, you and Celestia don’t. The others might have something inside of them, Twilight especially.”

somebody finally said it holy fuck
and it's coming from the guy that endured it all

[Draice]

I could feel how tired 'they' are when reading/listening to the chapter, of all these ponies shit storm. I wonder what happened to the original timeline, does it keep going without Alex/Sombra and twilight or will it be changed or erased?

Coming to the end of the chapter, Alex and us readers. "Ah shit, here we go again."

[KKSlider]

Alex really needs a Luna or Fluttershy there to help him out. Suicide is an answer, but it's a very permanent answer to a problem that could have other solutions. Before, he had Hope, Luna, and Flutters to balance him out. Now, he gun' die...

[Mitril]

Well if this ends badly....they can go back again?
It seems that these two act like that to give everyone even more reasons to kill them, as if they want to be killed off on purpose at this point

[ChakatRedstripe]

It's been a awesome ride and I can't wait for the finally

[Misty Shadow]

11131633
What he's endured is also a big part of the reason why I'm REALLY hoping this doesn't end with him fading out of existence. Going through all of this heck just to do something WORSE than suicide, erasing his creation entirely...I hope you understand where I'm coming from.

[horses are fuckin weird]

11132552
Sombra/Alex the millisecond Equestria goes back to normal:
i.pinimg.com/originals/c0/7f/3f/c07f3fe2f907344587c79af10d1c375f.gif

[tsaukpaetra]

Three.... Two... One....