A Dragon's Selection

by CartoonNerd12

Chapter 39

The entire room was crowded with ponies, a draconequus, a changeling king, and a dragon princess. Spike was at the altar beside Princess Celestia, who would be performing the ceremony. Rarity, Fluttershy, Sunset, and Pinkie were lined up on the bride's side of the platform wearing their bridesmaid dresses. The final moment was at hoof.

"How are you holding up?" Ember whispered to Spike.

Spike smiled, "Pretty well, actually."

"Seriously?" Discord whispered in. "No cold feet or anything?"

"I got nothing to be nervous about. I'm marrying the love of my life."

Shining Armor beamed as he uttered in, "I thought the same way."

Suddenly, the trumpets sounded off, signaling the start of the ceremony.

"This is it…" Spike took a deep breath.

Everyone turned to the double doors as two unicorn guards opened them. Coco Pommel, Sugar Belle, and Night Gilder entered wearing matching purple dresses and walked down the aisle throwing flower petals. Once they cleared out of the way, a gorgeous sight came into Spike's view.

"Wow…" he uttered when watching Applejack make her way down the velvet walkway.

Tears streamed down the bridesmaids' faces when seeing their friend looking so beautiful in her gown. When Applejack joined Spike at the altar, she gave him a warm smile, which he happily returned as they faced Princess Celestia.

The alicorn princess spoke out, "Mares and gentlecolts! We gather here today to not only join two loving beings, but two worlds! As you know, it's important that the royal prince of Dragonia must choose a wife among 35 mares here in Equestria, but this Selection's couple is very different from rest. Prince Spike and Lady Applejack's Selection had started out in the most unusual of ways, but despite their rocky start, they soon grew an affection for each other…And as their affection kept growing, they fell in love and have come to this point to be together forever…If anyone has reason to believe that these two should not be bound into matrimony, please speak now, or forever hold your peace."

There was a pause, and when it seemed like no one was going to speak, there was a sudden CRASH outside the doors! Then with a BANG, an army of teen-size dragons and griffons flew into the room!

There was massive panic from the guests as they scrambled around the room to avoided being bombarded by the winged creatures with sharp talons or claws. The bride and groom ducked just in time as a dragon blew fire. Discord used his magic to make giant flyswatters to stop the wedding crashers, but when two griffons tackled him, they tied him up with rope dotted with some strange looking white stones. Suddenly, he felt powerless!

"Discord!" Fluttershy cried out as she tried to get to him, but a dragon grabbed hold of her. Three other dragons did the same to Rarity, Sunset, and Pinkie.

"Unhand me, you brute!" the unicorn shouted.

Sunset and Pinkie struggled to get out their dragons' grip, but to no avail.

Ember was trying to order the dragons to stop when a voice said.

"They're not going to listen to you, cousin…"

She turned to see Garble in the doorway with an evil grin on his face.

"They can only listen to me…" he showed off the Bloodstone Scepter.

Both Ember and Spike gasped with Ember demanding, "HOW? HOW DID YOU FIND IT?! DAD KEPT IT HIDDEN AWAY SO NO ONE COULD FIND IT!"

Garble chuckled, "Let's just say…I had outside help…" He stepped aside as a dragon with blond hair and purple scales carried in a gray earth pony mare with an expressionless face.

Pinkie saw the mare and gasped out happily, "Maud! You're okay!"

Garble said, "For now, anyway. This mare has proven herself quite useful to me, what with her knowledge of magical rocks and all that boring stuff." He turned to Discord - who was grunting to get out of his restraints - and said, "I knew it would be difficult containing you had I just taken over without those stones that are around you."

"How is that possible?! I'm the Lord of Chaos! No stone should be able to hold me!"

Garble looked at Maud, "Pony, tell Discord here what those stones are made of."

Maud explained in a monotone voice, "These stones were once part of the stones that held the Elements of Harmony…"

Discord gasped, "Of course! Celestia and Luna used the Elements on me at one point to put me in a time-out! But when they got me out, they put the Elements away in large stones! They must have left a magical residue in those stones!" Then he turned to Celestia - who was restrained by magical shackles put there by the griffons and dragons - and sarcastically said to her, "Thanks a lot, Cay-Cay!"

Celestia called back, "Well, how we were supposed to know the stones could be used that way?!"

Pinkie piped up, "My sister knew that! Maud went to the Equestrian Institute of Rockology! Never underestimate the power of the stone! Right, Maud?"

Maud merely replied, "Right…"

Garble cut in, "So anyway! I overheard this pony on Nightmare Night talking to some other loser pony about how you can use a stone to control the world! Of course, that actually got me interested, so I waited until the moment was right to capture her. When Ember took me back to Dragonia, that was my chance, and while I was at it, I would frame those dumb griffons, too. Then, once I took the pony back to Dragonia, she told me a lot of interesting stuff about rocks, especially where the Idol of Boreas was concerned since it has a stone to control the griffons!" He took out the golden idol.

Ember snarled, "YOU HAD IT THIS ENTIRE TIME?!"

"Well, duh…Like I was going to let the stupid birds keep this treasure."

Spike shouted, "You stole it! You had no right to do that!"

Garble faced his cousin with a menacing smirk, "Well, here's another thing I have no right to do…but instead, I shall give you that honor!" He took out a crystallized dagger that he been hiding in the idol. He threw it to Spike.

Spike caught it and looked at Garble in surprise. Applejack was just as surprised, but she could tell from Garble's evil smirk that he was about to do something no good.

Garble proclaimed, "As I hold the Bloodstone Scepter in my claws, you have to do everything as I command!"

Both Spike and Applejack didn't like the sound of that.

Garble declared as he pointed the scepter at Spike, "Spike! I command you to kill the mare you love!"

There was a horrified gasp around the room.

"NO!" Ember was about to pounce when Garble pointed the scepter at her.

And he shouted, "And I command you to stay in your place and bow before me!"

The magic of the scepter overwhelmed her just as it had overwhelmed Spike!

Spike grasped the dagger in his claw and turned to Applejack.

Applejack pleaded, "Oh, Spike…no! You got to fight it!"

He said in a strained voice as he tried to fight against the scepter's magic, "I'm… trying… but it's not… easy!"

Rarity's voice suddenly cried out, "You can do it, Spike!"

"We believe in you!" Fluttershy called out.

"Yeah!" Pinkie yelled.

"You can beat the magic!" Sunset shouted.

Garble ordered, "Shut those ponies up!"

The dragons held the girls' mouths.

"Now do it! Finish the job!" Garble demanded with fury.

Spike felt his legs moving forward when he didn't want to. Applejack backed away slowly, but then she hit the wall. She was trapped with no way out. The dagger in Spike's claw shook as he held it up to her. Tears were spilling from his eyes.

Tears also fell from her eyes, "Oh, Spike…" She softly said, "If I must die like this, then I'm glad it's by your hands and no one else's…" She blubbered, "I will forever love you, Spike… I love you…" She closed her eyes to brace herself for the final blow.

Spike gaped at her words and looked back on all they had done to get to this moment. His willpower was growing weaker by the second and the dagger was slowly inching closer to the love of his life…With a mighty yet anguished yell, he moved the dagger toward himself and plunged it into his torso!

Applejack opened her eyes in time to see the appalling scene, right as Spike fell to the ground with a thud. Everybody was still with cold shock as Spike's heroic act made everyone speechless. Applejack made the first move as she shrieked.

"Spike! Oh, my Faust!" she rushed to his crumpled body and held him.

Garble then shouted in rage, "HOW?! HOW WAS THE RUNT ABLE TO FIGHT THE SCEPTER'S POWER?! NO DRAGON CAN DO THAT!"

Discord smugly replied, "But I can bet it didn't count on a dragon in love…"

"SHUT UP! DRAGONS! GRIFFONS! KILL THEM! KILL THEM ALL!"

The dragons holding the girls started to squeeze the life out of them when blasts of magic suddenly attacked them! The shooters were Shining Armor, Cadence, Twilight, and Fancy Pants. When the griffons tried to intercept them, they were attacked by Flash Sentry, Rainbow Dash, and Thorax and his changelings!

Shining, Cadence, and Thorax had managed to escape with the crowd when the dragons and griffons had begun to attack. They quickly went to go get Twilight, Flash, and even Rainbow Dash. Fancy had spotted them and volunteered to help as well. Once they saw what happened with Spike and heard Garble's order to kill, they quickly charged in.

The blasts made the dragon let go of the girls and made them retreat. The magic users caught the mares in their aura: Shining with Fluttershy, Cadence with Sunset, Twilight with Pinkie, and Fancy with Rarity, much to the unicorns' pleasure. Once Shining, Twilight, and Cadence let Fluttershy, Sunset, and Pinkie down. Twilight and Cadence combined their magic to break Celestia out of her bonds. Fluttershy rushed to Discord and tried to get his bonds off while Pinkie went to go save her sister.

But even with the battle going on, Applejack could only focus on the dragon that was laying limp in her arms. She had already removed the damn dagger from his body, but it was no good, Spike was losing more and more blood by the minute. Her tears ran down her cheeks in sorrow. Lost in grief, she stared at the dagger as she slowly took it in her hooves and pointed it to her chest.

Soon, I'll be back with him and I will even get to see my Ma and Pa again…

She gradually lowered the dagger before a claw stopped her and his now-hoarse voice told her, "Don't you dare… I didn't do this to myself just to see you die now… You are going to live and that's final."

"If you can call a life without you living…" she sobbed.

"You're not thinking straight… You still have your brother, your sister, and your grandmother…"

"I can't leave you to die…"

"You must…" he tightly held her hoof, "because I'll love you until my last breath. Every beat of my heart is yours for the rest of your life. If I'm gone, then you must live on… for the both of us…"

She gave a pitiful laugh, "Why must you always be so dang noble…?"

He gave a weak smile, "And why must you always be so stubborn…?"

"Because I love you… You know that…"

"I do… And I will always love you…" He caressed her cheek.

She leaned in for their final kiss. It was like every kiss they ever had was in this kiss: loving and meaningful.

Twilight, Cadence, and Shining Armor rushed to them then and Twilight cried out, "Spike! Oh, my sweet Faust! This is so bad!"

Cadence directed, "Shining, help me get him out of here. Twilight, cover Applejack. This fight is far from over…" Shining helped his wife levitate Spike, and Twilight did a protective front for her friend. Applejack wanted to go after him, but Cadence said over her shoulder, "No, Applejack. You're needed here."

Twilight told her, "She's right. You're as strong as any of these dragons. You can help us defeat them."

Applejack's eyes widened in realization. Then, with a deep scowl, she ripped the bottom half of her dress so her legs could move more freely. She tore the veil off her head, making her mane go undone. There was only one dragon she was after, and she was going make him pay hell for what he did to Spike.

Garble was still holding the scepter in his claw and the idol in the other as he watched the fighting happening around him. Ember was still forced to bow at his feet. He turned to her and said, "Now that the runt decided to kill himself, I see no reason I should kill you myself so I can be the Dragon Lord from here on out…"

Ember growled, "You're nothing but a coward, cousin… You don't deserve the Dragon Lord title…"

In a swift move he grabbed her by the neck and started choking her while saying, "Well, then… I'll just have to prove you wrong…" he tighten his grip making her gasp for breath.

"Let. Her. Go. Now!"

He turned to the voice and saw the runt's mare glaring darkly at him.

"Aww… and what are you going do about it? Try to use your namby-pamby pony words on me to try to change me?"

"No. I was thinkin' more a fight. Just you and me. I'm callin' you out, Garble."

He scowled in turn and dropped Ember while demanding, "And why should I stoop so low as to battle a pony that's unworthy in my presence?"

Ember weakly said, "Just as I thought, you are a coward… because any Dragon Lord would never refuse a challenge… no matter what."

Garble barred his teeth before tossing the idol aside and said to Applejack, "Alright, pony… You asked for it." he flapped up while holding the scepter and charged at her.

Applejack dodged the scepter's sharp points but barely as she got cut on her right arm. Blood dripped down but she wasn't going to let that stop her. Garble was about to attack again but she used her hind legs this time and bucked him way across the room causing him to crash into the wall leaving a dent. He rubbed his head after he got back up then he released a deep growl as fire burned in his eyes and went into another charge.

At this point of the fight, the tide was turning in favor of the heroes. Rainbow grabbed hold of the idol the moment Garble put it aside and flew up to get the griffons' attention.

"Hey! Look what I got!" she waved the idol.

The griffons stopped with their attacks and stared at her. Rainbow then flew out the room and the griffons followed after her. Just as that had happen, Fluttershy finally freed Discord who grab her face in one quick motion and kissed her lips! Once they let go, the draconequus then blasted at the dragons with laser beams! Making them yelp. Pinkie had been struggling to free Maud from the dragon's grip but once Discord's beam hit he dropped Maud.

Pinkie's eyes were filled with happy tears as she embraced her sister tightly. "Oh, Maud! I was so-so-so-so-so-so-so-so-so-so-so worried about you! But why did you have to go and tell that horrible dragon everything about magical stones?!"

Maud merely stated, "He would have hurt you and our family had I not given him what he want…"

Pinkie went, "Ooooh… That is a good reason."

They noticed the battle was dying down thanks to Discord's magic. The dragons were growing tired and some had fallen unconscious because of that. Twilight, Flash, Sunset, Rarity, and Fancy had managed to tie them up. However one fight was still going on. Applejack and Garble were struggling to get the upper hand. He had managed to grab her and was trying to crush her.

The others tried to race in to help her but Applejack told them, "No! This is mah fight! You can't help!"

Ember agreed, "She's right. Dragon Law says that any challenge made must be done alone. Whatever the outcome…"

Rarity indignantly said, "So we're to sit back and do nothing?!"

Celestia solemnly replied, "Unfortunately, yes…"

Luckily, Applejack managed to punch Garble hard in the stomach making him let go of her. There were cheers from her friends.

Sunset called out, "Go Applejack!"

Fluttershy shouted, "You can do it!"

Twilight yelled, "Show him whose boss!"

Rarity commented, "Normally I don't approve of violence, but I'm willing to make an exception!" she told Applejack, "Make sure you give him a good whopping!"

AJ called back, "I'm tryin'! But he's one tough customer to put down!"

Garble menacingly flapped to her, "And you'll never be able to take me down!" he could see she was about to use her hind legs again and grabbed them in time. He lifted her up and begun to swing her around.

There was a collective gasp as they watched Applejack getting spun around and around. Applejack yelled from the spinning and could feel herself getting dizzy and sick from the motion. Finally he threw her to a wall with a thud before falling to the floor.

"Applejack!" the girls screamed.

Garble slowly moved to the mare sprawled on the floor and smirked evilly, "You see? You couldn't defeat me… You're just a weak, useless pony…" he turned to the other ponies in the room, "All of you are…"

Applejack grunted as she feebly stood up. "It's one thing to call me weak… But no one… no one… calls my friends weak!" With all her might she pounced at Garble who was taken by surprise as the scepter fell out of his claw!

The scepter flew across the room where Ember caught it.

"No!" Garble shouted.

Ember smirked, "Oh, yes… Cousin, you are to return to Dragonia to tell my father all the heinous acts you have done… From there you shall receive your punishment, whatever that is, but personally I hope it's something that will match the cruelty that you have put everyone through… Now go!"

Garble felt the magic of the scepter controlling him and he flew out of the room in defeat.

Ember then ordered the dragons that were still awake to take the other dragons that were sleeping and to go back to Dragonia as well. When they did as she said, she turned to Applejack who was looking very tired.

"Thank you… I wouldn't have made it were not for you…"

"Spike would have wanted it…" she said wearily before her eyes shut and she fell into darkness.

Comments

[Tracelander]

Welp There went my heart

[Moon Glow]

Gah! Cliffhanger!

I knew Garble was the one who stole the Idol! I just knew it! Shame Applejack couldn't land a few more hits on him. Oh, well. I guess you'd have to change the rating if you got her to cave his skull in.

Looking forward to the next chapter. I hope Spike is ok.

[GrimmWolfDragon]

Great chapter

[MySisterBroughtMeHere]

I knew it had to be him.

[blaukit]

Nooooopp dang it