The Ruler of Ponies and Men

by Boopy Doopy

(2-2) Recess

“What exactly were you doing?” I asked angrily as Luna, Hope, and I stepped outside in the sun, taking a brief recess after hearing from Twilight, Shining Armor, and some of the others. We were alone in the Royal Garden, the sun still in the middle of the sky, Luna preparing to lower it in a couple of hours after the trial had concluded.

“With what exactly?” she asked back calmly. “Who’s testimony are you referring to?”

“With Twilight! Why did you ask if she thought Cadance would do that? That’s obviously a terrible question to be asking!”

“I asked it to have Equestria see that, without a shadow of a doubt, Cadance is guilty of the charges brought against her. It was to show that our accusations against her are not baseless.”

“And what if she answered no?” I asked. “What if the pony who was expected to be Celestia’s heir, the pony who’s both an alicorn and an Element of Harmony doubted that she could do that? She’d be effectively saying she doesn’t even believe us. It’d be undermining our authority and straining whatever little bit of trust I’ve somehow managed to build up with these ponies. Why would you ever even consider risking our position? My position?”

“You forget that we’re already risking our positions by having this trial in the first place," she explained. "Ponies might already be assuming that we’re doing this out of maliciousness, which we are, based on what you’ve described to me. As well, we cannot ignore the fact that, despite our current statuses in Equestria, our subjects don’t hold us in particularly high regard already, seeing my past sins and yours as well.”

“Those aren’t my sins, those are Sombra’s,” I told her, resisting the urge to add in the fact that I thought most of the ponies I "wronged" deserved it anyway. “And that doesn’t make it okay to-”

“I understand,” she interrupted, turning away and starting to walk into another section of the garden, “but I assure you I understand what I’m dealing with. I’ve ruled Equestria alongside my sister for centuries before. Even if she were to have answered no, it would not have been ‘the end of the world’ as it were. Not that she would have, of course, seeing as I discussed with Twilight what her answer would be beforehoof.”

I stared at her for a second as she continued walking before I frowned, realizing I wasn’t exactly putting my faith in her like I should’ve been. To be fair, up to that point, almost nopony had earned my trust and I deserved to be suspicious of them, but I did have to give them at least a little bit of credit if I was going to get anywhere with anyone.

“I’m sorry,” I apologized, the tone leaving my voice. “You’re right. I should be placing more faith in you than I am. I didn’t mean to get angry.”

“It’s quite alright, Alex” she called back respectfully, coming back over to me. “As I’ve said before, I’ve ruled alongside my sister for hundreds of years before. I assure you, we’ve had our fair share of quarrels during that time, it is nothing new for me. I’ll be heading off for now though. I would like to enjoy the rest of the garden before we head back if I can. There is still a lot left to get to tonight.”

“I understand. I’ll see about being back inside in half an hour.”

With that, the two of us parted ways, Hope staying beside me as I walked in another direction.

“I’d still be leery of her,” she whispered quietly as we walked. “I know I’ve said this before, but I still don’t think there’s anypony we can trust besides each other. She could’ve easily used the answer Twilight gave as an opportunity to have you removed.”

“That’s not true,” I responded. “We can trust Fluttershy. Besides, why would she have us removed after we’ve been ruling for ten months already? We’re not really in a position to just pick who we want to have faith in, especially when, before this, there haven't been any issues to come up.”

“I know that, but you’ve been too trusting and forgiving before, Sombra,” she continued. “It hasn’t ended well when you’ve been like that, when you’ve been lenient, which, by the way, is another reason you shouldn’t pardon Cadance in my opinion.”

“With Cadance, I’m proving a point, and making her look like a fool,” I told her. “I should be at home with my family and friends, but am not because of her, and I want her to face the scorn of everypony because of her actions. Also, there is such a thing as being too harsh and too untrusting. What we’re doing, ruling over Equestria, isn’t just a two pony show.”

“I know,” she sighed, stepping a bit closer to me. “I’m just saying to be cautious is all, and maybe ask Twilight if Luna spoke to her before the trial about that question. I just don’t… I don’t want to see what happened to you before happen again. You already know how ruthless these ponies can be, and I don’t… want to see you get hurt…” She turned away once she finished, rubbing the back of one hoof with the other.

“I know,” I told her, subconsciously moving up to nuzzle her. “You're right. I know I need to be careful. There’s no way I’ll ever be able to forget the fact that their first reaction to anything I do is to kill me. I’ll be careful about these ponies' motives. I'll follow your advice, and I know you'll also be there to see if there's anything I'm overlooking.”

With that, we began to walk around the garden again, taking some time to enjoy the view. As we walked, I was able to feel the sun beating down on us, feeling a little bit more intense than usual as it did so.

“I wonder if this is just a coincidence or if it’s Celestia,” I silently thought, squinting as I looked towards the sky a bit. “I wonder if she can see us now… would she approve of what we’re doing today, or be furious that we’re making a fool of one of her apprentices? I mean, it is partially Cadance's fault about what happened to her...”

“Do you think I should ever bring her back?” I asked suddenly as I stopped walking, standing in place.

“What? Who?”

“There are moments when I think I should,” I continued as I stared upwards, avoiding looking at the sun directly, “and then there are other times where I convince myself that she should be banished for as long as we live.”

“Oh, her,” she responded, realizing who I was talking about. “You already know what I have to say about it.”

“I know. It doesn’t even make sense to bring her back so soon. She banished me and Luna for one thousand years each, and had Discord imprisoned in stone for just that long as well. It’s only fair that she gets that long as well. But still, I want her to apologize to me and realize that what she did was wrong. That’s how this show is supposed to be. One big happy ending, one where I don't have to doubt anypony's motives or wonder if they're going behind my back, or get unjust punishments for retaliating against their maliciousness against me. One where I don't have to just stand here and suffer because of what they did to me...”

“I wish it were one big happy ending, too…” she whispered back.

“Hopefully Starlight can at least do something to help me. This is absolutely killing me…” Hope didn’t answer, opting to stay silent as she looked to the sky, standing next to me as she did so. Honestly, with each passing day, I felt like I was losing myself more, starting to edge to the point where I was considering that maybe just having Starlight wipe my mind completely would be a good idea, if she were willing to.

“I guess we should head back in,” I said after a long while. “It’s been long enough. Let’s get back to dealing with that witch.”

Comments

[Squishtopher]

“With Cadance, I’m proving a point, and making her look like a fool,” I told her. “I should be at home with my family and friends, but am not because of her, and I want her to face the scorn of everypony because of her actions. Also, there is such a thing as being too harsh and too untrusting. What we’re doing, ruling over Equestria, isn’t just a two pony show.”

Things might be worse off for Cadence in the long run for not being punished. When people see a person do wrong, they want to see justice done to them. Letting Cadance off scott-free might just make the populace resent her more, making thing more difficult for her than a temporary prison sentence.

[Vaalintine]

It still feels idiotic that he tolerates her at all when she doesn't really care about Alex and would have him just succumb to Sombra.

[Boopy Doopy]

10689301
Yes, but Sombra cares about her, which is why he tolerates her

[Al Duty]

When THE AltarBoy reads Boopy’s new chapter.

[Gear_change]

10689260
: that's the ideeeaaaa

[tsaukpaetra]

It doesn't really look all that great when testimonies have the hallmarks of coaching, but what can you do?

[Jayo Jack]

10689260
So, it's like choosing the Shame option from Middle Earth.

[Lunar Strike]

Correct me if I’m wrong but Alex is being a huge hypocrite. While yes what everyone did to him (or wanted to do) was terrible, he thinks that the Crystal Ponies opinion of him can be changed? Or “Do something about that”. The body he inhabits is one that tortured, enslaved, etc. them and him basically saying “Oh hey that was the other guy, don’t worry there’s only a 50/50 chance I revert back into him ” just seem odd. Not defending the transgressions against ‘Alex’ but he’s gotten in his head that he’s truly done nothing wrong.