A Tyrant To A King

by ShuTodoroki

Chapter 22: The Summer Sun Setback, Part 2

Discord was visibly pouting while Sombra walked alongside him, as they strolled along the streets of Canterlot while looking at the ongoing preparations. Well, the re-preparations, to be precise, since apparently they were already done before Twilight thought it was a good idea to make some last-minute changes.

"To think, Twilight would give the Lord of Chaos a foalsitter! I can control myself!" Discord muttered, Sombra rolling his eyes in reply.

"I think she just wanted extra insurance. If it makes you feel better, she probably just didn't know what I could help with since she didn't think I was going to show up."

"Yes, well, even if that was the case, it's still insulting. I mean, I could decide to make a few positively chaotic changes to make the Summer Sun Celebration memorable like Twilight wanted, but I have the feeling that's not what she meant so I'm exercising self-restraint."

Discord materialized handcuffs around his eagle claw and lion paw, showing it off to Sombra for emphasis. "See?"

"Hmph. To be honest, I would be indifferent even if you decided to. I'm not familiar with this 'Summer Sun Celebration,' and all of this fanfare reminds me of the Crystal Faire that was held back in the Crystal Empire. It's wasted resources better spent on defense, or something like that."

Discord looked surprised that Sombra didn't know what the Summer Sun Celebration was, especially since he had battled against Celestia and Luna in the past. "You really don't-" The draconequus cut himself off as he remembered what the Summer Sun Celebration was actually about, and then it made sense why Sombra wouldn't know of it.

"Oh, you were banished already when the Nightmare Moon thing happened. Well, long story short Luna once turned evil about a thousand years ago because she was jealous of her sister and refused to lower the moon, and Celestia had to banish her to the moon. But ever since Luna came back thanks to Twilight and her friends, it's now a celebration of Luna's return."

"Well that explains why they want to make this Celebration the last one, then. It's all about them. No point if they're retiring." Sombra mused, still not that interested but he understood now why the Celebration was such a big deal; ponies in Canterlot had probably been celebrating this for generations, and for it to be the last one, it was quite a momentous occasion.

"Exactly. So, I assume you're not exactly a party pony if you said all of this was wasted resources?" Discord remarked.

Sombra looked amused, finding that assumption to be something that was so obvious it really didn't need to be said. "Unless it's a holiday celebrating me, no. My time with Pinkie was practically torture, and I don't exactly look like the type to party, anyway."

“Did you have a holiday celebrating yourself when you ruled the Crystal Empire?” Discord asked curiously, deciding that maybe telling Sombra to lighten up like he originally planned would just lead to him being on the receiving end of another glare.

“I was planning on creating one, but my short lived reign prevented-”

“Hey, slowpokes! We’re all done telling ponies what to do and we’re going to meet back with Twilight! Come on!” Rainbow interrupted, flying overhead towards the castle while Fluttershy trailed behind her on the ground.

“Uh, if it’s not too much trouble.” Fluttershy added meekly.

“You know, you don’t need to rush us when I can just get us there with-” Discord snapped his fingers, teleporting all of them to the castle, to the shock of the ponies who were already there. “A snap of my fingers!”

Rainbow facehoofed, knowing that she should’ve expected that. “Ughhh, seriously?”

“At least give us a warning before you do that.” Sombra muttered, not liking how Discord would just teleport him against his will. It made him feel weaker than the draconequus, which was probably true.

“Aw, but where would the fun in that be?” Discord replied mischievously, while Rarity cleared her throat to get back to the task at hand.

“Everypony has done what was written on their cards?”

“Of course! We’ve told the pegasi about the last minute weather changes.” Rainbow asserted.

“We told Braeburn and the others about the menu changes.” Applejack confirmed.

“And Rarity and I told the Flaming Sky Firework Unicorn Troupe about the new vision for the fireworks!” Spike added, excited probably just because he got to spend time with Rarity.

“I saw!”

Everyone turned to look at Twilight, who had just come in. “It's all coming together. I really think this is gonna be the best Summer Sun Celebration ever!”

“You've done an outstanding job.” Rarity complimented, before Twilight corrected her.

“We've all done an outstanding job!”

Discord, unable to stand being left out, quickly joined the group while Sombra just stood there, looking like he could care less. “And what about me? You'll be happy to know that I have been watching myself all night, and I have yet to do one ‘Discord-y’ thing.” He said proudly, while materializing a pair of binoculars.

“With my help.” Sombra added, ensuring that it was known he had some part to play in the success of the celebration as well.

“Now that truly is amazing.” Luna remarked, as her and her sister also entered the hallway in which all of the ponies were congregated.

“Twilight, we know you had, uh…” Celestia gave a short laugh, trying to broach the subject as tactfully as she could without making Twilight feel bad. “Difficulties using the amulet to raise the sun and moon. We thought perhaps a practice session before the festivities might be in order.”

Twilight sheepishly smiled, remembering how the sun and moon were darting haphazardly in the sky the last time she tried to use the amulet. “That’s… a good idea.” She admitted, as she followed the princesses towards another room.

“Thank you all so much.” She added in appreciation towards her friends, before she and the princesses headed to the throne room.

“I sure am proud o' her.” Applejack said proudly, since this was the first time they saw Twilight calm in the face of so much stress.

“Yeah! She finally realizes things will turn out fine, even when she isn't micromanaging every little detail.” Spike added, until the appearance of an earth pony with a cowboy hat, looking quite sickly, stumbled into the hallway.

Applejack’s eyes were wide in shock; she had never seen Braeburn so sick before. “Braeburn? W-What's wrong?”

“Earth ponies sick...food missin'...can't...bake...anythin'...” Braeburn managed to explain weakly, before collapsing.

A blue maned royal guard suddenly burst in as well, looking frazzled. “Something is wrong with the weather! Storms, hurricanes, fog, you name it! It's a disaster out there!”

A group of angry unicorns then stormed in, the one who looked like the leader stepping over the collapsed Braeburn. "Rarity! Please inform her highness that we will not be performing! A simple fireworks show is beneath us! We're better than that!"

"What the…? Everything was fine a minute ago!" Applejack pointed out, confused by how everything had turned south so quickly.

Fluttershy then headed towards one of the windows, looking quite worried from what she saw. "Apparently, a lot can change in a minute."

Sombra headed over with the others to inspect what was going on outside, and simply put, it was pure chaos. The earth ponies were all obviously sickly as there was an angry thunderstorm overhead; certainly not the conditions for a Summer Sun Celebration.

"Well that's going to make it difficult to hold a celebration." Sombra remarked dryly.

"It's total chaos out there!" Rainbow exclaimed, before everyone looked at Discord suspiciously.

"Don't look at me!" Discord replied defensively, especially since he had been honest when he said he hadn't caused any chaos outside.

"What are we gonna do?" Fluttershy asked worriedly, before a familiar voice came from behind them.

"Do about what?" Twilight asked, coming back from the throne room.

Everyone immediately tried to hide the chaos unfolding outside, blocking the window. "W-What are you doing here?" Spike quickly asked, trying to distract Twilight from what was going on.

"I forgot these. You guys okay?" Twilight asked, holding up some cards with her magic.

"Twilight, w-we're sorry, but-" Applejack started, trying to tell the truth, but Rainbow quickly interrupted her.

"But, uh, we don't know what to do now that everything's all ready!" Rainbow said with the most forced laugh Sombra had ever heard in his life.

"I guess I was too organized! I'll try to come up with a few last-minute errands for you before sunrise." Twilight said before she walked away.

"Well, that's a relief!" Rainbow said stiltedly. Sombra really had to wonder how Twilight didn't notice something was up.

Applejack looked unamused, knowing that well meant lies were still bad. "Explain to me why we didn't tell her the truth."

"Oh, Twilight is finally learning not to let her stress get the better of her. If she finds out everything went wrong, it could be devastating!" Rarity explained, wanting to save Twilight the trouble of worrying when she was already making so much progress.

"She would be so upset." Fluttershy added, Rainbow echoing what she said.

"She'll totally freak out!"

Applejack wasn't totally on board with the idea, but she figured she was outnumbered. "Well, what do y'all suggest?"

"Ooh, ooh, ooh!" Pinkie said, while waving her hoof in the air. "Let's just fix it all before she notices. No lying necessary."

"I guess." Applejack muttered, still looking very dubious.

"We'd need a miracle." Spike pointed out, considering everything that was going on outside.

"We have a miracle! Don't we?" Rainbow asked, looking expectantly at Discord which made Sombra feel sort of insulted since he figured he had enough magic to stop whatever was going on.

Discord appeared as an angel, playing harps in a comical fashion. "I suppose I could fix everything. But isn't the real miracle here the miracle of teamwork and character growth?" The draconequus pointed out, before he promptly vanished in a burst of chaos magic.

"OH COME ON!" Rainbow yelled in frustration.

"Y'know, I'm starting to think you're more reformed than Discord." Applejack muttered, pointing a hoof at Sombra.

"Hmph. Well, I don't see why you'd think Discord could fix all of this anyway. Maybe the weather, yes, but he can't magically heal the earth ponies or make that unicorn troupe come back. And I don't think that mind controlling them to do their firework act is a good idea."

"Anyway, Discord is right. Twilight needs us. Whatever happened, we can fix this!" Fluttershy said in determination, before a thunderclap interrupted her.

"What did happen?" Spike asked, looking out over the disaster unfolding outside.

"Never mind worrying about what happened! We need to see to what we were originally assigned to and make it right!" Rarity asserted.

"So that would leave me finding Discord and dragging him back here to help, I assume?" Sombra said.

"Yes, please! And remind him that friends don't just up and leave like that!" Rainbow yelled, as they all ran off in separate directions.

Sombra did have to admit that Discord's tendency to run off when they needed him the most was quite irritating, but he knew that he'd be able to find him in no time in his shadow form. He turned to shadow and phased through the window, flying high above Canterlot but not too high as to get struck by the constant lightning.

He found it quite illogical to hide something like that from Twilight, especially if it was so obvious that she would find out at some point. If she was the event organizer she would have to deal with any mishaps as part of her job, but if her friends thought that hiding it from her until they could fix it was the best course of action, he wouldn't say anything.

That draconequus wouldn't leave Canterlot if it meant he'd miss out on the chaos. He reasoned, and sure enough he could see Discord prowling around the celebration grounds, doing absolutely nothing to help while managing to avoid Twilight's friends who were frantically trying to make things right to no avail.

He descended rapidly as a dark cloud of shadow and reformed as he reached the ground, looking unamused as he appeared before Discord. "You seem quite amused by the chaos unfolding."

"Well of course I am, Sombra, I'm a being of pure chaos!" Discord remarked with a chuckle, before looking serious for a moment. "But seriously, this isn't me."

"I never said it was you." Sombra muttered, even if he had his suspicions. "Though I don't see how ponies could mess up making changes this badly."

Discord shrugged, materializing some popcorn to eat as he walked around. "I don't know, but it sure is entertaining! Once Twilight finds out, this will be the ultimate test to see whether she can handle ruling all of Equestria." He then spied Twilight walking with Celestia and Luna, touring the celebration grounds.

"Ooh, speaking of which, let's see how she reacts!"

Sombra was dragged along by Discord, the charcoal unicorn used to it by this point as he used his dark magic to hold up his red cape so that it didn't get dirty. "Hey, watch it!"

"You two just enjoy the festivities. I have a few surprises in store for-" Twilight cut off as she saw Discord and Sombra incoming.

"Discord, Sombra. Can I help you both?"

"Oh, well, don't mind me. I'm just here for the chaos!" Discord said, sitting himself down at a table with sunglasses as another thunderclap sounded from the sky. "And here we go!" He laughed.

Rainbow then flew through at breakneck speed, probably to round up the thunderclouds which Twilight took notice of. "What is Rainbow Dash doing?" She was about to fly over before being stopped by Pinkie mixing up some soup in a giant cauldron.

"Pinkie, is this soup?" Twilight asked in confusion, not understanding why there was soup when that wasn't on the menu.

"Yes! I…was really hungry?"

Sombra facehoofed at the lousy excuse, before he heard a commotion from angry unicorns while Rarity was talking to them from a stage with Spike. "Nopony understands wanting to take pride in your work more than I do!"

"You could do more with your magic than make frilly dresses!" An angry unicorn shouted in reply.

"Oh, pffft. Nopony makes frills anymore. This season's actually all about simplicity, and-"

"Not the point, Rarity!" Spike shouted, trying to get the angry unicorns under control.

"Princess! I beg your forgiveness! It's entirely my fault!" A bespectacled pegasus pleaded on his knees, just serving to confuse Twilight even more.

"What is?" Twilight asked, before another thunderclap answered her question.

"That!" The pegasus shouted, before Fluttershy quickly tried to cover for him.

"Oh, um, just a slight hiccup in the weather." She laughed, before pushing the distraught pegasus to the side.

Applejack then came running hauling a cart of ingredients for food, before Twilight stopped her. She then decided that she had enough, yelling at Pinkie and Fluttershy. "I told y'all this was a bad idea! But nopony ever listens to me!"

"That's it!" Twilight exclaimed in frustration, using her magic to get all of her friends in one place so she could speak to them.

"I thought everything was fine! What is going on!?!"

"Everythin' was goin' fine." Applejack started.

"Until it totally wasn't." Pinkie Pie added.

"We tried to fix it ourselves." Fluttershy explained.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Twilight asked, feeling kind of hurt that her friends didn't trust her with this information.

"We didn't want you to freak out." Rainbow answered, looking quite unsure if what they decided to do was the best course of action after all.

"And you thought not telling me everything was a total disaster would avoid a freak-out!?!"

Spike looked sheepish, unsure of what to say. "When you say it like that, it sounds like a really bad plan."

Twilight inhaled deeply, trying to get a hold of herself while Discord obviously didn't think the princess would take it well. "Here it comes!" He said excitedly, holding a pair of binoculars while Sombra looked unamused from his spot next to the draconequus at the table.

"I know how I used to react, but I really have changed. Panicking won't solve anything. But we can handle whatever problems come our way as long as we handle them together!"

Discord rolled his eyes in disappointment, as Celestia and Luna walked up to Twilight. "Spoken like a true leader. How can we help?" Celestia asked.

"I love a good to-do list. So tell me exactly what happened so we can figure out exactly what 'to do' to fix it." Twilight answered, taking out an empty scroll so they could start.

Sombra looked expectantly at Discord, since the draconequus had expected Twilight to freak out, but she hadn't. "Well, that's certainly a change from when she was freaking out over the Tree of Harmony being destroyed."

"Yes, yes, she's better at not freaking out about everything and I was wrong. I guess I have to help out now." Discord muttered with his arms crossed.

"Duh, of course you are, after leaving us like that to try and fix this ourselves!" Rainbow yelled, Twilight beckoning the two over with a spot on the to-do list with their names on it.

Sombra sighed, walking over as he had his work cut out for him. Looks like he'd have to do work after all…

---

Sombra growled as he battled against the thunder clouds in his shadow form, wondering how in the name of Celestia the pegasi managed to mess up the weather this bad. Sure, the Crystal Heart did most of the work for him in keeping the Frozen North back, but pegasi had managed the weather for years!

He blasted multiple dark clouds with his magic, destroying them completely while thunder sounded so frequently around him that he thought he would go deaf. His helmet was the only thing giving him some sort of reprieve from the noise, and although he hated doing what felt like others’ bidding, it did feel good to be back in action again.

“Sombra, watch out!”

He quickly dodged a lightning strike which was easy due to the speed given to him while he was shadow, but nevertheless he felt a strange feeling of appreciation for whoever warned him that he was about to be shocked. Looking up, he saw Discord who gave a nod before shoving a thundercloud into an alternate dimension.

Well, that certainly felt…good, to have somepony watching his back. Ugh, no! I’m not going to become sappy. He resolved, deciding just to focus on the task at hoof. Though it still sat in the back of his mind that maybe teamwork and friendship weren’t so awful after all.

Comments

[Bronycommander]

Nice to see him do some good