//------------------------------// // Chapter 9 // Story: A Dragon's Heart // by NightShadow-z //------------------------------// Twilight was beyond mad. She was furious. A guard attacking an unprovoked dragon like it was nothing more that a beast from the depth of the Everfree Forest. As she stared at Spike, her anger only grew. They had hurt her dragon. Her dragon. And she would make them pay. “Where is this guard now?” Twilight asked, her mane and tail starting to become more and more frazzled the angrier she got. “Twilight Sparkle.” Celestia suddenly spoke in a calm, yet commanding voice, causing Twilight to jump in surprise. “I will not let you just go off and attack one of my guards, even if they unlawfully attacked a dragon. It seems that the whole royal guard needs to be reminded that there is a treaty between us and the dragons.” She spoke, looking angry herself. It didn’t take long to find out why. “Besides. I already dealt with that treasonous little bastard for harming my son. I don’t think I’ve ever intentionally hurt a pony in all my life. They’re currently in the Canterlot hospital being looked after. Then they will be given dishonorable discharge and spend 6 months in jail. After which, they will be sent home.” Twilight stared at Celestia. It took a lot for her to get angry at somepony. And to attack them then throw them in jail? She only did that when Spike’s life was on the line - which it was - she rapidly reminded herself as she calmed herself down. “I’m sorry, Princess,” Twilight replied, before trotting up and nuzzling Spike. “I’m only going to ask yes or no questions, okay?” She asked him. Spike nodded, glad that he wouldn’t lose Twilight, but, at the same time, he hadn’t expected to. “Are you afraid of any of the other girls leaving you?” She asked him, as Celestia kept feeding him some of her birthday cake, while also making a request to the kitchen staff to bring some more cake for her guests. While spike chewed on the cake, he looked at the other 6 mares who were looking at him with different expressions on their faces. Rainbow looked like she wanted to go find the stallion herself. Fluttershy had a hoof covering her mouth, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. Pinkie was watching the other girls nervously as if she was trying to decide who to comfort first. Starlight was staring at Spike in shock, worry slowly creeping onto her face. Rarity…. Had unsurprisingly fainted on the spot. Applejack was trying to calm her marefriend down before she did anything rash. Spike nodded, finally answering Twilight’s question, to which she gently hugged him, letting him cry in her embrace. Rainbow was the first one to break the silence as she started to walk toward the door, “Pinkie hold my tail.” She instructed. “Okie Dokie Loki.” She replied before grasping the rainbow tail in her mouth. “Lemme at him. I’m going to turn that no good stallion into a cloud wetting pansy.” Rainbow suddenly exploded, struggling to get out of the room. “Okie Dokie Loki.” The pink mare said, letting go of Rainbow’s tail. “I think you’re missing the point here, Pinks,” Rainbow told her, lifting her tail up while AJ came up and held the mare from behind. “Oh.” Pinkie blinked before bursting into giggles. “My bad. Hey, did anypony get that reference?” She asked. “What reference?” Starlight asked with a raised eyebrow. “Oh, I forgot, none of  you saw that movie.” The pink mare giggled. Twilight just rolled her eyes, before she remembered the letter. “Oh, I almost forgot!” She exclaimed before turning to Princess Celestia. “What did you summon all of us for?” She asked. “Oh yes. I wanted to tell you all in person.” She began before she gave them a shocking reveal. “Discord and I are getting married.” ***** Spike stared up at the ceiling of the hospital wing he was in, the IV for pain control and medicine attached under his scales along his left forearm, and the gentle, yet annoying beeping of the EKG to his right. After the initial shock that Celestia was going to marry Discord gave him some hope that he could one day marry a pony as well. A gentle snort from the sleeping pony beside him gave a reminder that he wasn’t alone. Smiling as he looked down to his right, Spike saw Twilight curled up and snuggled against him, sleeping peacefully with a smile gracing her features. She had stayed by his bed the whole day, even after everyone else went off to get settled in the guest rooms, declaring adamantly that she was staying by his side until he was released. Finally deciding that she had the right idea and that the rest of the world could move on without him for a while, he gently pulled Twilight closer to him, and closed his heavy eyes, slowly drifting off to sleep. When he opened his eyes again, he was back in the same nightmare. The events of Rarity’s rejection played out just like they had in the waking world, but then things got weird. “Oh, I know that little rejection didn’t hurt a beast like you.” Rarity suddenly told him, a look of hatred on her face. “A monster like you can never feel love. We only keep you around because you’re useful when it comes to manual labor.” Spike knew this was a dream. That didn’t stop it from hurting him still. As the dream played out, he realized that these were his subconscious fears that had been awoken the day he finally told Rarity how he felt. “Nopony can ever love a beast like you!” Rarity shouted into his face, her white hoof swinging in to slap his face. But the slap never came, and he didn’t wake up like normal. Opening his eyes after not realizing he had closed them, he saw a familiar purple magic holding Rarity’s hoof in place. “You are wrong, Rarity.” The voice of Twilight Sparkle suddenly cut in from all around them. “I keep him around because I love him, something you are too vain and shallow to see properly.” The purple alicorn herself walked into view, her horn glowing angrily as she glared at the dream Rarity. “You’re hurting Spike. And you know what happens to ponies when they hurt Spike.” Suddenly, the magic that held the seamstress’s hoof threw her out the window, removing her from the dream altogether, before Twilight turned and smiled at Spike. “Luna brought me into your dream, after telling me that you were having a nightmare.” She explained. "Although, Celestia’s sun is rising, and the wedding is today. Canterlot surely puts a royal wedding together fast.” She chuckled then pulled Spike into a hug. “I’ll see you when you wake up.” She whispered, before slowly fading away. Spike stared at where Twilight was just standing. After a few minutes of just staring at the floor, he smiled and nodded to nopony in particular, before allowing himself to wake up, slowly opening his real eyes to be greeted with Twilight’s now open and awake eyes staring back at him from a few inches away. “Th-Thank you.” He whispered to her, his throat still sore from when the guard attacked him. Twilight’s eyes widened at the sound of his voice before tears of happiness started forming at the corner of her eyes. After wiping the tears away, she pulled him into a hug. “You’re welcome, Spike.” She whispered back. “I’m glad your voice is coming back.” ***** Spike stood next to Discord - wearing a suit that felt a little tight on him - as his best man. He had been roped into it when the lord of chaos realized that he didn’t have one to begin with. Of, course it wasn’t the weirdest thing that the draconequus has done before. At least, no weirder than Princess Luna, the bride’s sister, conducting the ceremony. Once the bridal march started, the purple drake gave an apologetic look to Twilight, before his eyes being drawn to Celestia, who wore a pale blue wedding dress with a flowing skirt, the veil and train easily touching the floor, but not as long on the floor as one normally would be. As she made her way up the aisle, Spike couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to have somepony walk up the aisle, place their hoof in his claw, and smile at him just before the ceremony started. “Fillies and Gentlecolts,” Luna called out in a regal tone, snapping Spike out of his daydream. “We are gathered here today to join, two souls in celestial matrimony.” The whole crowd was fixed on the unlikely couple, smiling faces adorning them. Spike knew that only a select few of those faces held some truth to how they looked. The rest just didn’t want to get on Celestia’s bad side after hearing what she did to a guard who unlawfully attacked him, her proclaimed son, no less. “Celestia, if you’d like to start with your vows,” Luna suggested. Celestia nodded her head and turned to face her draconequus lover. “Discord… It broke my heart the day I had to turn you into stone. I was a fool, afraid of what ponies would see if I had confessed my feelings long ago. All that time, I constantly visited your statue, I am overjoyed to finally spend the rest of eternity with you, as your loving wife. And I promise you will never have to feel alone again.” Some of the ponies had tears in their eyes, while Fluttershy was silently crying into her hooves, overjoyed for her draconequus friend. Spike smiled and looked to see what Discord's vows were, or even if he had any. “My dearest, Celestia. The first time we met, I thought you were the most beautiful mare in all of Equestria. The first time I called you SunButt, I was happy to finally give you a nickname worthy of me.” He chuckled with Spike and the rest of the crowd. “The longer we spent together, the more I fell in love with you. It’s true that when you called me nothing more than a beast that couldn’t be tamed, no matter how hard you tried, I gave in to my chaotic nature, ready to throw the whole world away.” He took a deep breath. “I’m glad you stopped me that day. If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be able to stand here and say: I love you.” Almost everyone was crying now, Fluttershy crying tears of joy as she leaned against the pink mare beside her who looked about ready to cry herself. Even Spike had to wipe a tear from his cheek as it rapidly solidified into another Dragon’s Tear. Way to go, Discord, He thought proudly. You finally did it. “Celestia, do you take Discord to be your lawfully wedded husband, to love and to have,  in sickness and in health, for as long as you both shall live?” Luna asked, to which Celestia replied with a simple, “I do.” Luna nodded and turned to Discord. “And do you, Discord, take Celestia to be your lawfully wedded wife, to love and to have, in sickness and in health, for as long as you both shall live?” Discord looked into the eyes of Celestia and grinned. “I do.” Spike watched as a young colt brought the rings up and presented them to the couple, Celestia using her magic to place the ring on Discord’s Gryphon talon, while he used his lion’s paw to place the other one on Celestia’s horn. “By the power vested in me, granted by Princess Celestia, I now pronounce you Mare and Draconequus,” Luna announced. “You may kiss the bride.” Celestia and Discord leaned in slowly and lovingly, before their lips finally met in a kiss, lasting but only for a few seconds, before pulling back with happy loving smiles adorning their faces. The crowd soon erupted into cheers as Spike gave a few whistles in congratulations to the newly wedded couple. During the party, Vynal Scratch - AKA DJ PON3 - Played a remixed version of the wedding song that Twilight sang at Shining Armor’s and Cadences wedding, while Spike danced with the purple alicorn herself. As the events of the night slowed down and Spike went to a room he was to share with Twilight, he felt her curl up against him again and kiss his cheek before she slowly drifted off to sleep. Spike stared at her with a blush on his face, a claw where she had kissed him. Man, Twilight’s really being affectionate tonight. He thought to himself, before chuckling. Well, she did drink some of the hard cider before asking to dance with me. Maybe she’s actually attracted to me? He shook his head, realizing that he wouldn’t get any answers out of the situation and he held his closest friend to his chest, slowly letting the comforting feeling of her snuggling him lull him off to sleep.