Ch.13: Sacrifice and Rescue

Celestia sighed as Discord planted gentle kisses up and down the side of her swan neck and hugged her fondly. She never thought she would enjoy this, but she is. It makes her think of the good times they had together, mostly during their engagement. She's even wondering when the two of them will finally be married.

"Bit for you thoughts?" Discord then purred into her ear.

"I was just thinking about the future," she answered with a bit of reluctance. "Even if we do find lovers for all six of the Bearers of Harmony…will we be together again ourselves?"

Discord knew what she was talking about. She's talking about if they'll ever be married, even if they do find lovers for the Mane Six. Will they let the two of them be together forever?

"Don't worry, Tia," he whispered to her softly. "I'm sure we'll think of something. But in the meantime, rest your weary head." He then placed a soft kiss on the corner of her mouth, and she fell asleep instantly with a sigh and a smile. Discord knows that she won't wake up until after our heroes rescue her, but he doesn't care. He can sense that a certain dragon will sacrifice himself to protect someone he cares about, and he doesn't want Celestia to see who it will be.

He got up from the pillows at the sound of hoof-steps approaching. He stood his ground for a few seconds before the rescue team and Garble's gang appeared before him at the cavern entrance.

"Discord," Twilight cried, "we're here to get our Princess back and get back at you for tricking Spike like you just did!"

"Well, will you at least keep it down?" Discord then hissed at her with a glare. "Tia just fell asleep. Of course, she'll be sleeping for a short while until you save her…if you can, that is." He then turned to Garble, who just glared at him with gnashing teeth. "And I should've guess you would have something to do with this."

"You never said anything about falsely breaking Spike's heart," the teenage dragon shot back. Discord just glared at him as he then brought up his paw, which glowed with energy. Garble braced himself for the attack before the Draconequus shot the energy at the group. But the blast isn't aiming for Garble…it's aiming for Spike!

"SPIKE, NO!" Garble threw himself in front of Spike and took the blast in the chest, and he flew across the room before crashing into the wall and crumbling to the ground in a heap.

"GARBLE!" Spike cried, rushing to his side. Seeing his new dragon friend's face grimacing in pain, he felt anger welling up in him before he turned to Discord angrily.

"I'll get you for this!" he roared, charging at Discord like a wild animal. As his friends tended to the injured Garble, they watched as he fought with the Draconequus like a pair of male lions fighting for leadership over the pride: claws slashing; wings flapping strongly; teeth biting. Discord could have used his powers, but he used it on Spike and when setting up the trap for Celestia, and he only has enough to return to the ruins in the Everfree Forest.

Before long, Discord fell to the ground in defeat, scratches and bite marks along his body. This is becoming too much like déjà-vu to him. Guess it wasn't such a good idea to let the Dragonheart Broken turn Spike into a teenage dragon.

"Now get outta hear before I decide to end this here and now!" Spike demanded, glaring down at the Draconequus that simply grinned at him.

"Glad I got the chance to fight you, Spike," he said. "I'll catch ya later." And with a snap of his fingers, he vanished. When he did, Princess Celestia's eyes fluttered open and she sat up on the pillows.

"What happened?" she asked. "Where's Discord?"

"Flew the coop," Spike answered more calmly as he turned to her. "Princess, we need your help. Garble got hurt trying to protect me. Can you get us to the hospital?"

"I will as quickly as I can," she answered, a small smile at Garble's direction at the thought of his sacrifice for Spike. She then conjured up a powerful transportation spell and teleported them all out of the cave: herself; the Mane Six; their boyfriends; Spike; Garble; and the other teenage dragons.