Author's Note

Good news for anyone worried about this fic suddenly halting without ending. Work on the drafts of Black Sun has finally come to a conclusion and I only need to go over the remaining chapters in editing. So, barring a catastrophic failure of my hard drive or my untimely death, there should be nothing keeping this story from being seen through to the end!

And in my eyes, the quality is only uphill from here.

Chapter 33 - A Conflict of Interests

November 8th

Another day, another question of if anypony else was going to suffer.

Aurora hardly moved as he stood upon the balcony of Twilight's castle, silently looking out over Ponyville. A heavy fog had been set over the town all morning and into the afternoon. Only the nearest buildings were visible to him, roughly forty feet at most. Normally his sensory magic would probably be able to see through it and detect everypony in town, if he used it at its weakest level. There was nothing out there right now though. Almost all of Ponyville's inhabitants had remained wherever they had scattered to during the attack. Though he hadn't heard much, it seemed that many were reluctant to return at all. Most of the ponies that came back at this point were construction crews, hoping to do something to return Ponyville to it's former glory. None of them would be working in this weather though, leaving the hidden ghost town silent.

It was like a mirror, giving him a look into ponykind's soul right now.

He'd been keeping up to date with what was happening elsewhere through the reports of EDF scouts, spread across Equestria to report any signs of trouble. From Vanhoover to Baltimare, Las Pegasus to the Crystal City, it was like everypony had a blanket draped over them. Though most were unaware of the truth, almost all knew something was wrong. Something that they weren't sure could be fixed. Sadness and frustration were permeating everything, fraying nerves and stretching tensions. How long could Equestria go on like this?

Even so, there was still nopony under more pressure than those at the top. Princess Celestia and Queen Cadance had to continue on like nothing was wrong, doing their best to lead their subjects while carrying the weight of the world. Cadance at least had Shining Armor to help shoulder the burder, But Celestia had nopony alongside her...Even now, she was supposed to attending a diplomatic meeting in Outlani. Trying to establish the first true connection between ponies and changelings, all the while having the thought of Luna's condition in the back of her mind. The thought of what any action that might delay her return could mean...

The thought that he may face such a situation one day, where it felt like the pressures of the entire world were all upon him, weighed heavy on Aurora's mind.

In moments like these, he could understand why Twilight had become so...Broken. He'd been working alongside Spike for days now, doing his best to keep her spirits up. Just to bring her round even. She still hadn't said a word since they'd found her after using the Alicorn Amulet though, hardly sleeping, barely eating. He could feel in her core that she hadn't exactly given up yet, but she had been through so much, felt so many soul-crushing losses were on her, that she just didn't know how to proceed. In truth, neither did he. Part of him just wanted to learn the spell that would separate Tantabus from Sunset Shimmer, go out himself and force a confrontation. It wasn't ideal but time was against them at this point. Not just for his friends and family, but the princesses and all Equestria.

And yet...He had a gut feeling, one that his heart echoed, that they couldn't do it without Twilight. That had always been the way. He had just been here to learn from experience, find out how a leader handled the worst the world could throw at them. How was he meant to carry on when the worst was too much for them to cope with?

Aurora's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of somepony teleporting onto the balcony, right behind him. He yelped slightly and span round, doing his best not to look like he'd been spooked by it. Before he could even finish the turn, his vision was filled with something soft and white, making him instinctively stumble back slightly. His tail was brushing against the railing before he could bring himself under control.

"Oh! Forgive me, Aurora, I didn't know you were there!"

He blinked as he realised that was Princess Celestia's voice, and that he had almost walked straight into her side with that turn. He looked up at her to see she was looking back at him, checking she hadn't accidentally hurt him. Now that he had a chance to look at her up close though, he could tell that she was in a rough way. Her face was worn with marks of exhaustion and stress. Like she'd aged a thousand years since they had last met. Her mane occasionally faltered in its flow, her left wing was being held slightly out of position and her movements were slow and tense. As bad as it looked, Aurora knew that this was still her masking the worst of it. The pain she must have been feeling inside was incomprehensible to him.

Just had bad were things for her and Luna at the moment?

"That's alright, your highness," He replied as he straightened up, hoping he didn't sound too awkward. "I wasn't expecting you either."

"I came as soon as I was able. It is sooner than I intended, but King Thorax has proven very accommodating in the short time I've known him. He agreed to postpone the discussions until Tantabus is defeated, so I've come to help Twilight realise she can still do this. Twilight has done more for me than she will ever realise, and now she needs my help...Is everypony else here?"

"Everypony left." He said simply. It wasn't until the words were out of his mouth that he realised just how hard hit they had been. When they had started, the six Elements of Harmony had had ten other ponies to support them. Now there were nine total, and only two elements left active.

"Please ask everypony to gather in the throne room," Celestia told him as she turned to head inside. Her voice sounding a lot more focused than she looked. "We have a long day ahead of us."

Aurora paused for a brief moment to surmise that the princess hadn't been to Twilight's castle in a long time before nodding and following her. Just as he was about to head for the undamaged rooms lower down, a sudden thought came to him. One connected to his first duty in this crisis, that made him wonder if they had even needed to be there.

"Can I ask you something?" He asked cautiously, waiting as Celestia looked back at him.

"I would welcome the distraction." She admitted, looking curious at what was on his mind. He didn't know exactly how to phrase his thoughts, so he decided to go for the straightforward way.

"I figured that when we were initially sent to track Tantabus, you had asked for help from Discord in order to get us out there quickly. If he knew, why did he not try to help? He doesn't seem the type to share Equestria with other supervillains, reformed or otherwise, and could probably have separated Tantabus from Sunset in a heartbeat."

Celestia stopped at the question, closing her eyes. Aurora wondered if he'd touched upon something he shouldn't have, not even daring to try and sense what she was feeling. Moments later though, he heard her sigh as she opened her eyes again. Her expression was one of regret, but also of relief.

"A very good question. One that I had for him as well...."

As the sun and moon steadily sailed past each other in the evening sky, Celestia's eyes narrowed slightly. There had been many trying times in her reign, but this one was alongside the failed campaign to save the Crystal Empire. The one that had led into Tantabus' first rise a thousand years ago. She'd already had too much experience in handling her sister's duties alone and this time it was even harder to do. Luna may have still been with her, resting inside the castle, but the knowledge that her little sister would die without her magic wore heavy upon the sovereign.

As if that weren't enough, the Elements of Harmony had been crippled as well. Even now she could look out from her position in the solar point and see the hospital where Rainbow Dash was fighting for her life at this very moment. That alone told her that she couldn't afford to rely on her usual methods this time. Having faith in Twilight while maintaining the peace had been fine twenty years ago, but a more direct method was needed on this occassion. At least she already knew just what she needed to do.

Once the moon was settled in place she turned back toward the center of the open room and launched a spark of golden magic toward the floor. For a few moments it simply sat in place, fizzing softly. Then it pulsed for a moment before disappearing. Celestia simply waited in place for a minute, tapping her hoof in slight impatience. Eventually there was a flash where it had landed and Discord phased into existence in front of her, wearing a monocle and using a pair of tweezers to work on a cart in a bottle he was holding.

"Ugh. Twilight, is this really a good time?" He muttered as he fiddled with the model a little, stopping as he glanced up and realised who he was actually talking to. "Aah, now I really should have known better after today. And to what do I owe the pleasure, my dear princess?"

"I need another favour," She told him, wasting no time as she paced around the tower. "I know you had a stipulation for before, but I will get you as many Snapping Turtles as you want if you do this."

"You still don't know what even one of those is." He told her. The look he received in return was enough for him to pause everything he was doing and stare at her in surprise.

"I will find a way. This is too important." She told him firmly, her gaze intensifying.

The tone of Celestia's voice, focus, determination, mixed with a little desperation, was enough for even Discord to realise that she had precisely zero tolerance for his hijinks right now. He snapped his side project away and started pacing around alongside her, the two of them circling the floor space, staring out into the night-bathed distance.

"Alright, let's hear it then. See how many turtles it's worth."

"I'll cut to the point, just like I'd like you to do. There's no denying that you're the single most powerful being on the planet. Do you think you can separate Tantabus from Sunset Shimmer and return her to Luna?"

"My my, so forward," Discord mused before bringing his hands together and stretching them out. "Skipping several dates is usually something reserved for the fans to do. But offering me a challenge like that? You know how much I love to flex my powers."

He shrugged and brought his lion paw forward, staring at it as he snapped his fingers. Nothing changed around them, though Celestia hadn't expected it to. Hopefully Luna would be feeling her other half coming back to her, leaving her at no further risk, ending this problem before it began and...Discord was snapping his fingers again. And again, his brow furrowing in irritation as he snapped them rapidly until the fingers he was using snapped off. Although she remained stoic on the outside, full panic was starting to set in on the inside. Why would he be doing that unless something had gone wrong? More to the point, WHY was it going wrong?

"Of all the...I swear this has never happened in front of you before." Discord grumbled as he reached down and reattached his fingers, shoulders slumping in resignation.

"What's never happened?"

"Well it would seem that something, or someone, is blocking my efforts to do so," He told her, his tone gaining the venomous edge he used when he was angered. "You know what? Forget the turtles on this one. No-one messes with my magic and gets away with it!"

"Well...Do you have any idea what could have caused it?" Celestia silently chided herself for letting her façade slip, the fear leaking into her voice. It was a small mercy that nopony else came up here and she had kept her voice quiet enough to prevent it being heard outside. Discord didn't seem to have noticed either as he was looking down, stroking his goatee in thought.

"Well there is one thing. I do try to keep all the error reports for my magic, on the off-chance it was down to something I can make my magic better."

Discord snapped his fingers and popped into a lime green jumpsuit with a matching cap. At the same time a stack of papers almost as tall as he was appeared next to him. Despite herself, Celestia was amazed that he'd actually had so many instances of his magic not working. The look must have shown on her face as he glanced over at her, lifting out roughly three-quarters of the papers and squashing them into a coaster sized picture of himself.

"What? I've made a few errors in my early days," He told her, twirling the picture on a claw. "All these ones were from my period as a statue though. You have no idea how annoying that was, forgetting to turn my error reports off before you and your sister took me for granite. All the while I was getting those messages about your pet tree stopping my plunder seeds from doing their job. Two thousand, one hundred and ninety-four years, eight months, three days and nineteen hours of hearing this every few seconds."

He snapped his fingers a few times, each one making a strange bonging noise, before moving onto the remaining papers and looking through them.

"So yes, I was perhaps a little crabby when I woke up, trying to get that out of my ears. Now, let's see if we can find what the problem is...No. No, not that one either. Pretty sure that one was an alternate me, what was he even doing teamed up with Starlight Glimmer? Wow, even I think I could have set up a sorting system to do this for me. But where's the fun in that? Ah...Again you thwart me!"

Discord flipped round the paper he was holding and pressed it up to Celestia's muzzle. She quickly grabbed it in her magic and read through, looking for anything that might give her answers. Most of it was either irrelevant or incomprehensible to her, but the cause of the error was laid out clearly in the center of the page.

'Error 626. Harmony.rtr has initiated magic counterbalance, chaos influence disrupted. Please contact tree for assistance.'

"It does take a while to learn how to read tech support," Discord commented as he took the paper back, lifting his cap back slightly. "But in short, the Tree of Harmony decided that this needed to happen. Enough to subtly use its magic to stop me from intervening. I always thought that rock was getting smarter over the years, but this is ridiculous!"

Celestia was hardly listening as Discord continued his explanation, staring blankly as she tried to comprehend what she had just heard. It sounded like...Like she specifically wasn't allowed to do anything. Like the very element that she, her husband and her sister had fashioned had taken on a will of its own. One that seemed to have a plan, and was not willing to let her work with one of her own. The one time she wasn't willing to stand by and see how things played out, she was being forced to.

Sometimes fate had a cruel sense of humour.

"I had planned to tell Twilight after the Alicorn Amulet was initially recovered, once she was feeling better," Celestia admitted, slowing her steps slightly. "But after Spike informed me of the nightmares she'd been afflicted with, followed by everything else you've all been through..."

Aurora looked down slightly, unsure how to respond. He couldn't imagine how difficult it had been for her to hear those words. That had explained her fervour when she had gone to Tantabus' hideout in the Badlands though. After being stymied already in these circumstances, he would have taken any opportunity to end it himself too.

"I know it's easy to disregard, but your struggles have been every bit as important as ours," He eventually said, seeing her look at him in surprise. "Forgive my forwardness, but if you need somepony to talk to about-"

"I appreciate the thought, Aurora. I really do. But my time to air my feelings will come when this is done. Right now, Twilight needs it far more. And we need her in turn."

Aurora nodded, trying not to look grim. Much as he didn't want to admit it, Twilight probably was the only one who could hope to stand up against Tantabus at this point. Celestia had given enough magic to Luna to leave herself vulnerable and Cadance had her hooves full attempting to prevent a civil war breaking out back home. Anypony else attempting it would effectively be on a suicide mission. After what had happened with Starlight Glimmer, he'd had enough of ponies treating the crisis that way. As the two of them reached the door to Twilight's room they paused and both looked at each other, both momentarily lost for exactly where they should go from there.

"Spike's in with her at the moment," He eventually said, looking down the hallway. "Between the two of you, you should be able to convince her to come out. In the meantime, I'll gather the others."

Celestia simply nodded, headed inside while he continued onward. In truth, he was feeling a lot less confident than he had when the princess had arrived. It was only just setting in that everything he had tried to bring his aunt round so far had fair, and now everypony was going to have to try to do the same. Perhaps the worst part though, was wondering what Twilight would have to say about it all.