The number of citizens that were pouring in halved while the number of soldiers that poured in doubled. It was getting late and what Discord feared was coming true. He would have to lower the sun all the way and raise the moon but that wasn't the problem, the problem was the speech. Shining armor must be having a hard time, he had to. Sombra and discord were going to have to figure out something, Discord could easily send Sombra there in a snap, but that would give him away. He really did dig a big hole by pretending he was Celestia. It was too late, to tell the truth, and if she turned back they would only give him trouble. He found an empty closet at one point and when he got a moment he would snap his fingers and cause a tiny bit of chaos. It made him feel better at first but the more he did it the less effective it got. The longer he stayed the more suspicions the ponies would get, he was sure of it. So he just had to take what he could get. He felt weak and confused maybe it was from throwing up so much blood, or maybe it was the stress, he wasn’t sure. He was in too deep now, he had to keep pretending to be Celestia if he fessed up now it could cause a panic.

This was the least of his worries for right now and that was saying a lot as he found himself in that closet more and more. Desperately needing the chaos breaks. He had to make a speech at some point. He promised, he also hoped the solution would be found before then. It was looking like there wouldn’t be a cure before then. He just had to keep pushing forward, he was sure he’d think of something better than faking it maybe when the rest of his friends came back. They could think of something together.

Discord was on his way to get Sombra when he felt his stomach turn once more, he ran back to the storage closet where he kept his bucket. This time Sombra caught him in the act. Sombra opened the door to see Discord in his own body, throw up and he panicked. His stomach had been swirling for quite some time now, he was worried it was shared stress, stress that was affecting Discord worse than it was affecting him. “Discord…” Sombra started “are you ok?”

Discord looked over to his friend and smiled sheepishly “you have to pinkie pie promise not to tell any creature."

Sombra was worried about making such a promise but maybe it wasn't that bad, he nodded “cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” he said, doing the motions of the classic Pinkie Pie Promise. Which he soon regret because when he got closer he saw the bucket was filled with blood. He stood and rubbed Discord’s back with his hoof comforting the poor creature. He cringed at the sight of Discord throwing up more blood. Sombra was going to lighten up the mood, “Discord, remember what rarity would say during times like this.” And doing his best to impersonate rarity he said “What do we doooo ooo oooo” and chuckled hoping to cheer discord up. He looked at discord and fear ran through his body. He didn’t feel it often and suddenly he understood why Discord was doing all this. If he felt panic at such a crucial time, then other ponies would too. If ponies had known that they were lying, that the princesses were still unconscious, it would cause an all-out panic. The most disturbing was his eyes so empty and exhausted he watched as Discord shed a single tear.

“I’m in so much pain...Sam” Discord said, shedding some more tears.

Sombra was floored; he usually called him Sam to tease him but it was more like he was using it to comfort himself, so Sombra felt frozen. He had never seen Discord be so honest and emotional before. This was hurting him more than Sombra assumed. “Discord please-” Sombra started to protest but was silenced by a claw on his shoulder.

“No I can do this, I'm sure of it I only have to do it a little bit longer. I’m sure I’ll think of something. Or maybe a cure will be found soon, or Fluttershy, rarity, rainbow dash, pinkie pie, and spike will be back soon. I can do this. I just have to hold out a little longer.”

Sombra frowned “one hour. If our friends don’t come back in one hour, we are stopping this.”

Discord smiled, he was absolutely certain that this was the right thing to do, what had to be done. “Thanks, Sombra. I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

Sombra cringed and hoped that this was just from stress, and Discord would be just fine, they both left the closet to go back to ponies. Discord noticed the steady stream of ponies, not just any ponies more soldiers than citizens. But Discord didn’t get the chance to check it out further as he was buried by ponies demanding he give a speech, they wanted answers. He sighed, looked like they had to deal with another problem. He took to the stage wishing his friends were here. Sombra was, but Discord could see all the stress was eating at him as well.

Just then Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Spike, and Fluttershy arrived but discord hadn't seen them yet, his senses dulled from the exhaustion. “My loyal subjects, I know you all have questions. I promised you answers.” The main room erupted with questions, pony yelling over pony. “Please, if you could just remain calm I will answer your questions.” Discord held his hoof over the crowd to silence them just as Celestia would. Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Spike, and Fluttershy were surprised at how much he acted like her. If someone had told them that this was Celestia they would have believed them. That was quite a wild thought.

“I will start with the first question. How come I just came back? “I came back to care for you. I love all my subjects and someone should be here. I couldn’t get any of you out of my mind. Don’t worry, Twilight, Cadence, and Luna are all capable mares as well as alicorns. They have my faith. I know they will be fine without me on the battlefield.” One down nailed it Discord! See you could do this, it wasn’t that hard.

“As for why are we all here in the room? Why did I gathered you here” Oh gosh, why did he do that, he had to make up something WWT/C do? “we are all in the same room because it makes it easier to care for you all if you are all in one place. Not only that but do you remember that big battle we had with Tirek, Cozy Glow, and Chrysalis before? The one before Twilight became the current ruler of Equestria?” He asked as he waited for the crowd to answer. They started nodding their heads yes.

“You mean the team up Discord caused?” A random mare said, causing whispers to sprout among the crowds.

“Yes, that one, but that isn’t my point. My point is that you all helped twilight, she took magic from you and used it to defeat them. We want to do that again.” He said calming the crown down with a single hoof once again. “My sister and I think this is the quickest and most effective action. Any more questions?” Silence thanks Celestia they are calm discord thought. He felt bad for lying to them and making up another plan on the spot. That wouldn’t matter when the princesses woke up and who's to say that idea wasn’t worth a try.

“Now I must go and set the sun and raise the moon in a couple of hours. Everypony get as much rest as you can, we will need you all to be in your best shape.” He said, noticing Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Spike, and Fluttershy out of the corner of his eye. He quickly trotted over to them. “Hello girls, I need you to do me a solid and take charge of the areas Sombra and I built. We both desperately need a break. Applejack go meet the farmers out back in the garden. We are getting low on food since we have all these mouths to feed, they are trying their best to grow it and could use some help. Pinkie pie you are on kitchen duty, go meet with the head chef he’ll tell you what you need to do. We will need to feed ponies tomorrow, again. Fluttershy please go join the vet in caring for the animals, I know you sent them here. Rarity if you could help out the medics that would be great and spike you're on daycare duty. Any questions?” He said he had been giving orders all day so it just rolled off his tongue.

The group just stared at him, wide eyes. “Are you doing ok Discord?” Rarity asked she was incredibly concerned for him. “Because you don’t look so well.”

“Sombra and I have just been running ourselves ragged, I need you all to take charge now so we can get some rest.” Discord said in Celestia's body.

“Speaking of you, why are you Celestia?” Rarity asked.

“Can you please just do as I say, I am Celestia because I have been running into people not listening like right now. Let me show you.” He said tapping their heads with his hoof.

The main sixes eyes widened further, they were shocked to see all the trouble that Discord and Sombra ran into when Discord wasn’t pretending to be Celestia. Discord said, “I just couldn’t think of any other option.”

“Ok Discord, we'll do it, but we'll be haven' to talk about you lyin' to so many ponies later.” Applejack said. they split up and went to their respective corners only leaving the organization of ponies to Discord and Sombra, the workload was substantially cut. With amber bee helping to organize it was extremely easy to get through the ponies. It would have probably been fine but Shining Armor just had to barrel through the front doors.

“Half the army is down, hurt or dead. We need to talk….Celestia?! What?”

Discord put his hoof over the stallion's mouth and teleported them all into the closet. He transformed back into Discord. “It’s me.”

"Why?” Discord tapped Shinning's head and gave him a flashback. “Wow. Ok, this is really bad. But I guess I’ll have to let it go for now. We are losing ground. What is the status of the princesses.”

Sombra looked at one another, Discord had to raise the moon soon. Who knew if Shining would hold out all night. What were their options? They certainly couldn't rely on the princesses.

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