Ch.8: Kidnapping of the Princess

"Princess Celestia!" Rainbow Dash cried, jumping up to her feet. Lionwing then stood up beside her, awed by the Alicorn's magnificence. The two of them then bowed to her as she landed in front of them.

"Hello, Rainbow Dash," Celestia said to the young Pegasus before turning to Lionwing with a gentle smile. "And who is your new friend?"

"Oh, this is Lionwing," Rainbow answered, blushing as she turns to her new love. "He's new here." Lionwing, being the well-mannered gentleman that he is, then bowed to her with his wings spread out.

"Your majesty," he said to her. "I am honored to meet you for the first time in person."

"The honor is all mine, Lionwing," the white Pony replied, pleased by his gentlemanly manners.

"Uh, Princess?" the confused Rainbow then said to her. "What brings you here if you don't mind me asking.

"Twilight told me that you've befriended this gryphon here," Celestia then answered, "and that there's something strange about his collar that was making her uneasy."

"His collar?" she replied, turning to the jade jewelry with an arched eyebrow. "How come she never talked to me about it?"

"She told me that she wanted to," the princess explained, "but she, Marvin, and Spike were afraid of hurting your feelings by not trusting him or giving him a chance." The rainbow Pegasus then thought about it.

"I guess that's a good enough reason," she replied. Princess Celestia then turned her attention to Lionwing's collar. She does indeed sense a strange aura emitting from it…a familiar aura…

"NOW!" Discord then shot out at her, his disguise returning to normal during the process. She was so surprised that she never got the chance to react as he then tackled her to the flower-filled grass.

"Heya, Tia," he purred before planting ticklish pecks on her swan neck.

"Discord, stop!" Celestia ordered in between giggles as she tried to push him off with no success.

"Oh, you're just so cute when you laugh," he chuckled.

"Hey!" Cornwall yelled as the two-headed dragon jumped out from their hiding spot. "Hands off the lady, freakazoid!" Devon turned to him with shock and nervousness.

"Uh, Corny," he mumbled in a warning tone. "I don't think that's such a good idea." Discord turned to them with surprise.

"How did you get out of your cage?" he demanded. "Kaa and Hiss are supposed to be guarding you!"

"Long story short," Cornwall answered, "we knocked them out." Then Ayden flew out and dove at Discord, attacking him.

"Hey, quit it, you little runt!" he yelled, throwing his arms around to get the falcon away from him. When he did, Princess Celestia squirmed away and took off to the sky. As she did, Discord grabbed poor Ayden before he can fly away.

"You little pain in the neck!" he yelled with a glare. "You should've backed off when you had the chance!" Lionwing, who was in a state of shock at the time, quickly snapped out of it and turned to Rainbow.

"Rainbow, you go and help your princess," he said to her quickly. "I will take care of him." Rainbow nodded and flew off as Devon and Cornwall jumped the Draconequus, freeing Ayden from his clutches. Seeing his chance, the gryphon shot out and scooped up the stunned falcon to get him out of harm's way.

"You will be safe up here, Silverwings," he said softly as he settled him on the branch of a nearby tree. He then turned and flew back to help Devon and Cornwall fight off Discord. But just when he was about a foot from them…

BAM! The Draconequus shot his fists out as if his arms were made of rubber, hitting the dragon in the gut and the gryphon in the face. It may have knocked Lionwing out, but Devon and Cornwall were merely stunned. However, it gave Discord the opportunity to take off after Celestia and Rainbow Dash.

Once in the sky, he spotted his princess and Lionwing's Pegasus flying as fast as they could through the evening sky. He then grinned with delight. He will capture both of them; Discord can have his filly and get back at Lionwing for his betrayal. He then snapped his fingers, and both Ponies' wings and Celestia's horn vanished in a flash of light.

"Oh, no!" the princess cried.

"Not again!" Rainbow concurred as they began to fall to the ground below. However, the second they began falling, Discord had a steel cage appear under them to catch them. Once it locked itself shut, he flew over to the two trapped Ponies.

"Once again, Celestia," he purred, tracing his lion finger up from her neck to her chin, "you're mine."

"Leave Rainbow Dash out of this, Discord!" the Alicorn demanded, pulling away from his flirty touch. "She has done nothing to you!"

"True," he stated, glaring at the rainbow Pony hiding behind her princess. "But she's the cause of Lionwing's betrayal." Rainbow felt her heart sink at what she had heard.

"Lionwing's…working for you?" Discord simply gave her a smug smirk.

"He used to," he answered her, "but he had the nerve to stab me in the back because he's fallen for you for real! I swear, that guy has a weird taste in girls."

"But didn't you try to hook us up in the first place?" Rainbow asked. Short pause.

"I'm just gonna ignore that question," he said before snapping his fingers. And all three of them vanished in a flash of light.

Back at the ground, Devon and Cornwall have just gotten out of their stunned state and are now trying to revive the unconscious Lionwing.

"C'mon, Lionwing," Cornwall said, gently smacking his cheek. "Wake up already."

"Maybe this will help," Devon said, taking out a black acorn. "Help wake Lionwing up." He then blew onto it, and the acorn transformed into a bucket of water. The dragon then dumped its contents onto the gryphon, waking him up in an instant.

"Wha—What the—" he cried, jumping to his feet. "What happened? Where's Discord?" Ayden then flew over to him and squawked what he had witnessed.

"He took Princess Celestia and Rainbow Dash?" the gryphon cried in shock. He then let out an unearthly gryphon roar of rage, making the others cringe back in fear. They know Lionwing never means to scare them now; he's just worried about his Pegasus lover.

"If he so much as harm a single hair in her colorful mane," he then hissed, "I will make him wish he never saved me in the first place…"

"Easy there, big guy," Cornwall said to him.

"DON'T TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!" Lionwing yelled. "HE HAS MY RAINBOW!" The two-headed dragon and falcon then saw that he's shedding real tears, tears of pain and sorrow at the thought of loosing the love of his life.

"He probably told her that I was using her at the beginning," he then whimpered. "Rainbow…she must hate me now…" Ayden then settled onto his shoulder and rubbed his head into the larger creature's neck with a reassuring coo.

"Oh, I'm sure she still loves you," Devon said to him, "especially when we tried to get you two together." The panicking Cornwall slapped his hand over his other head's mouth, but it was too late.

"You were trying to what?" the gryphon asked, turning to the dragon.

"Uh, well, ya see," Cornwall started nervously, "the thing is…"

"Wait a minute," Lionwing said with a glare. "The tripping and crashing into Rainbow; the rose I gave her; the breeze that made her cold so I can warm her up…They were all YOU?"

"It was Ayden's idea!" Cornwall cried, pointing an accusing finger at the falcon. Lionwing calmly turned to said culprit, who just cooed his answer in raptor tongue.

"You were perfectly made for each other." Lionwing then looked down with closed eyes and smiled.

"Thank you," he said to them before looking up at the sky as stars begun to appear. "Now let's go save them." He then spread out his wings and took off to the sky.

"Did he just thank us?" Cornwall then asked in awe.

"I think he did, " Devon answered. Then they and Ayden took off into the sky after their gryphon ally.