Sorry for the long wait, but I was pretty busy and just finished my first weekend at my new job. Other than that, I'm continuing with my fanfic. So here's the next chapter.

Ch. 11: A Rescue…with a Price

The sun was just touching the horizon outside of the old palace ruins within the Everfree Forest. Inside, Princess Celestia lied upon a large pile of red velvet pillows decorated with golden suns and Shakespearean comedy masks. She still has the orange chains on her to keep her from escaping. They are also keeping her from using her magic, save the spell she needed to lower the sun so that Luna could raise the moon. Apparently, she's unaware of the limit of Discord's spell on Marvin. As a matter of fact, she's unaware of Marvin's true form until Discord explained it in front of her. Discord did too good of a job making the Martian look like a true Unicorn Pony until he told everypony his secret.

As the Alicorn struggled to get out of his chains, she sensed the familiar chaotic presence of her opposite.

"Coming, my succulent little creampuff," he called to her sweetly. She looked up to see him step out from behind a pillar a few feet from her. If she wasn't bound up, she would be giggling at the sight of him. He has on a bright green bathrobe decorated with yellow punctuation marks. He was also holding two martini glasses in his hand and tail. The one in his hand has chocolate milk with a chocolate-covered strawberry skewered by a toothpick. The one in his tail has white wine topped with white rose petals.

"I hope you don't mind," he purred to her as he floated over to her. "I wanted to slip into something more…comfortable." He then slithered his tail around her shoulders before holding the martini glass before her.

"I also figured you might like a refreshing drink," he added before taking a sip of his own glass. Celestia just smiled a little before taking a small sip of the wine.

"Was it really necessary?" she then asked him. He only arched an eyebrow at her in confusion.

"What? I was only being a humorous host. Besides, ya gotta admit that the bathrobe's a—"

"I meant kidnapping me like you just did back at Ponyville."

"Oh, that? I thought it was good. Ya gotta admit that the self-moving chains binding you was a good touch."

"True, but you could have just kidnapped me from my castle," she teased with a flirty smirk.

"Nah, too cliché for me," he explained. "Besides, you know how your sister gets about me ever since I got out last time."

"I guess you have a good point," she answered with a laugh, "but you do know also that Marvin and the others will come to save me."

"That I'm counting on, mon amore," he purred before pressing his lips gently into hers. She simply smiled before returning the kiss. She knows this is all part of Discord's plan. All he's trying to do is get Marvin and Twilight together. Even though things won't go his way and they'll rescue her, at least he will succeed in getting the two lovers together.

Their kiss would have lasted longer…had Kaa and Hiss not barged in.

"Bosss, the Poniesss a—Oh, my!" Kaa cried when he saw the two entities kissing. As they broke apart with surprise, Hiss lowered his cap over his blushing face.

Well, that was humiliating, he thought to himself as he felt Discord glare at them.

"I hate it when you two barge in like that," he growled. "Well, what is it about the Ponies that you had to ruin our alone time?"

"They are heading thisss way," Hiss answered, still blushing and not looking up at them. "The Martian Commander isss leading them." Celestia then turned to her flirty abductor.

"I guess he wishes to fix what he has done," she stated matter-of-factly.

"Looks that way," he stated with a shrug. "Oh, well. It was fun while it lasted." With a snap of his fingers, the glasses and bathrobe vanished. He then turned Celestia over gently and floated over her, their bodies touching slightly as Kaa and Hiss hid away.

"Just to make it more convincing when the come to your rescue," he purred as he nuzzled is his muzzle into her neck. Celestia simply purred in reply at the gentle feeling. It only lasted for fifteen seconds before the doors burst open.

"Get off of her, you sick maniac!" the familiar voice of Marvin yelled at him. Discord looked up at him with a sinister grin to see the Mane Six, Spike, and the Commander's three friends also with him.

"Marvin," he greeted him kindly, "glad you can drop in. You have to excuse yourself for the bad timing; I was cuddling with my filly here." Marvin gritted his teeth as he scraped his hoof into the stone floor.

"The Princess is not yours, Discord!" he growled. "She belongs to all of Equestria! And I'm going to help save her!" Discord frowned at him in reply as he stood up from Celestia.

"Jeez, Marv," he groaned at him with a glare. "Why do you have to be such a stick in the mud? That's no way to make a good impression on Twilight." Marvin really lost it that time.

"DON'T YOU DARE INVOLVE HER!" he yelled, firing a crimson blast at the Draconequus. However, he dodged it, and the blast hit the far back wall with a BOOM!

"Whoa, touchy, are we?" he asked the enraged Unicorn. "Alright, fine. Just don't get your skirt thing in a bunch." He then clapped his hands, and Kaa and Hiss slithered to his sides.

"Take care of them," he said to them, "but leave the black one for me."

"If you wanna take me on, then fine," Dodgers replied, taking a fighting stance. "I'll have you know that I've—"

"I was talking about Marvin, ya bozo."

"Oh…" he replied. "Right…" Marvin then got ready to fight the demon but blinked with surprise when Twilight stepped up beside him.

"You mess with Marvin, you mess with me, too," she said to Discord with a glare.

"Twilight—" Marvin started.

"I know it's dangerous, but trust me," she said to him with a smile. "I've faced him before, and I don't want him to hurt you. We'll fight him together." She then placed her hoof on his gently, and he smiled in return.

"Alright, but if he so much as touches you," he replied, "I get the first hit."

"Deal," she chuckled.

"Aww, isn't that sweet?" Discord cooed, holding his hands at the side of his cheek. "You're already getting along like a pair of sweethearts. And me without a camera."

"Uh, bosss?" Hiss said. "You do know of course that we have to fight them, right?"

"Whatever," he replied flatly. The two snakes then charged at Twilight and Marvin, who quickly ducked before running towards Discord. And the battle began.

As Celestia watched from the sidelines, Twilight and Marvin fought Discord while the others fought his snake minions. The two snakes didn't put up much of a fight. Not only were they hopelessly outnumbered, but also the Ponies and Queen Tyr'hanee were too fast for them. Even when they struck at them, the female fighters would quickly dodge them. Before anyone could say "Holy Toledo, Batman!" Kaa and Hiss were tied up in tangled knots and dizzy.

Meanwhile, Discord was putting up a much better fight with Twilight and Marvin. He was using monsters made of sweets to fight the two Unicorns, from gingerbread Manticores to candy cane cobras. Twilight and Marvin fought back with their magic. The monsters were tough, but the two of them are fortunate to beat them. They soaked the Manticores with milk shooting out of their horns, and they kicked the cobras so hard, the candy cane creatures shattered into brick-sized pieces. Discord was putting up a good fight, however, because he has summoned so many monsters that the two Unicorns couldn't reach him.

After Kaa and Hiss got tied up, the others turned to see Twilight and Marvin fighting the candy monsters. Quickly, Dodgers and Cadet rushed forward to help their companions…only to crash right smack into some iron bars.

"Ow…" they said in unison.

"Sorry, but this fight is between the three of us alone," Discord said to them with a sinister grin. "No backup."

"I really hate that guy," Dodgers groaned before he and Cadet fell backwards to the ground. The others just watched outside of the bars as the two Unicorns fought the monsters on their own. They appeared to be growing tired, but Twilight and Marvin never stopped fighting them until every single monster was a pile of mush or crumbled peppermints. The two of them then turned to Discord with pants in their breaths, sweat on their faces, and determination in their eyes.

"Now we have you to deal with, Discord," Marvin said, standing up straight like a soldier and scraping his hoof into the ground. "Any final words before—AUGH!" Pain shot through his body and he fell to his knees. Twilight rushed over to his side, fear for her friend in her eyes.

"Marvin, what's wrong?" she cried as tears streamed down his face.

"Long story short," the smiling Discord answered, pointing at the window to show that the sun had just set, " his time's up." He then burst into his signature laughter as ribbons of blue, yellow, and green light wrapped around Marvin's body. Before the ribbons consumed his head, Marvin looked up at Twilight with tears in his red eyes.

"I love you…Twilight," he whispered before the lights blocked his eyesight from her and pain consumed his body. It was the same pain he felt when he turned from Martian to Unicorn, only the transformation's in reverse.

At least I got the chance to be with her, he thought as he held back his screams of pain. He doesn't want her to hear his cries. It will only pain her, and that's the last thing he wants to do to her right now. He held it in for as long as he could. Just when he thought he couldn't take anymore, the pain stopped and the lights vanished. He then looked himself over to see that he has returned to his true form before looking down in despair.

Behind him and Twilight, the bars vanished to let the others rush over to them. The Ponies (save Twilight) stood in front of Princess Celestia to protect her as Dodgers, Cadet, Queen Tyr'hanee, and Spike rushed over to Marvin and Twilight's side. Discord then turned to Twilight, who watched Marvin's friends help the Martian up with sad eyes.

"Apparently," he said to her with a smile, "he never told you that the spell was temporary. And it can only be permanent if he kisses you and you return it before the sun sets on the third day…which happens to be today." Twilight turned to the Draconequus with both pain and anger in her eyes.

"Just leave him alone!" she yelled, her horn glowing magenta and tears flowing down her cheeks. Discord stood back and turned to see the Ponies protecting Celestia. Once again, they have him beaten because he had reached the limit of his powers and needed to recover. He had used too much from all those sweets monsters and the bars.

"Fine," he sighed in defeat, "but don't think winning Celestia back will make him a Unicorn again. So I guess you're stuck with having a Martian for a boyfriend. Have fun!" And with a snap of his fingers, he, Kaa, and Hiss were gone in flashes of light. The rescue party then removed the chains from Celestia, and they all headed back to Ponyville. During the journey back, Marvin looked up to see the stars appearing in the night sky…and felt his heart break at the loss of his beloved Twilight Sparkle.