Spike's Sacrifice

Chapter 4: Discord's Guilt Part 2

Discord sighed as he looked out the window of his guest bedroom. Everything that was either purple or green reminded him of Spike. It didn't help that there was a tree right in front of his window surrounded by grass. Discord would always cry himself to sleep each night, but just because he was asleep didn't mean his troubles were over for the day. In his dreams, a vision of Spike would appear in his mind, covered in blood and cuts, he had a charred abdomen, and he wore a blank expression. Worst of all, five seconds after his vision of Spike appeared, the injured dragon would open his mouth and just let out a blood-curdling scream for a full minute then collapse on the ground and before being enveloped in a cloud of smoke. When the cloud of smoke cleared, Spike was gone, the only thing that reminded Discord of what he just witnessed was a small pool of blood on the ground. Discord would always wake up in a cold sweat after he looked at the pool of blood and it would take an hour, sometimes two, to fall back asleep. Discord experienced the same nightmare at least twice each night during those ten, gruelling days since one of his close friends died. The worst night was the night after the funeral, when Discord had the same nightmare seven times and had only gotten two hours of sleep. He had put a spell up that prevented Princess Luna from seeing his horrifying nightmares believing that this was part of what he deserved. The Draconequus was known for being a bit of a troublemaker even after his reform, but the one time he tried to do something for his best friends it went horribly wrong. He knew that the second that Twilight and her friends found him, they'd turn him back into stone. Of course, he believed it was what he deserved, but every time he got the courage to get up and go to the Casle of Friendship, it died at the last minute. Every time this happened, Discord felt ten times worse than he did before.

A knock was heard at the front door and Discord slowly walked to it and looked through the peephole. Instantly, his gut dropped. He could see Twilight Sparkle and one or two of her friends. He knew Twilight was going to turn him back into stone. He knew there was no point in running, he did this and it was time to face the music. He slowly opened the door, the wooden object letting out a low creaking noise as it slowly revealed the depressed being behind it.

"I know why you're here, Twilight," Discord sighed sadly. "I know what I did, but no matter how much I hope, no matter how much I try, I cannot see you or your friends ever forgiving me. So, please, just turn me into stone again and get it over with. I deserve it."

Twilight was taken aback. She already knew Discord was upset, but she hadn't expected him to be tore up to the point where he wanted to be petrified in stone for a third time. Celestia, Luna, the other Element Bearers, and Starlight also seemed a little shocked by Discord's behavior.

"Discord," Luna spoke. "We're not here to turn you back into stone, we just want to talk."

"Oh, do you have another punishment in mind?" Discord asked, his tone seemed the same.

"No, Discord," Celestia said calmly. "We're not here to punish you at all."

Discord was shocked, "I-Is this a joke? Please don't toy with me like this. I know what I did was wrong, but don't leave me in the dark about my punishment."

"No, we're not joking. Listen, Discord, we may be angry for what you did, but we know deep down that you never meant for this to happen. You may have drug us into your mess but you also managed to get yourself out of it," Twilight said kindly

Discord remembered what Twilight was referring to. How he'd freed everycreature in Equestria by goading Tirek into blasting away the chard of Crysakis' throne restraining Starlight, causing a domino effect for everyone else.

"While I see your point there, it still doesn't take away from the fact that one of our close friends lost his life due to me," Discord said, beginning to tear up. "I've been having the same nightmare about Spike every night."

"What sort of nightmares?" Rainbow Dash asked.

Discord gulped and then went into detail about his recurring nightmare about Spike. How he was so badly injured, how he had that blank expression, and how he'd just let out that awful scream before collapsing on the grond in a bloody mess. He also recalled how he woke up in a cold sweat every night at least twice. When Luna asked why she couldn't see his nightmares, he told her he had put a spell up to block her from seeing it because he thought this was part of was what he deserved. When he was finished, he looked like he was about to cry.

"The worst part about this whole thing is Spike died hating me for what I did. He's not wrong either, I feel fully responsible for what happened to him. If I hadn't put them together, he'd still be alive," Discord choked out. Unable to bear the pain any longer he broke down and began to cry.

After hearing this, Fluttershy trotted over and hugged her Draconequus before looking him right in the eye.

The cream colored Pegasus looked very serious, "Listen, Discord. I am your best friend and as your best friend, I know you very well. I know that you're sometimes a troublemaker and mischievous person, but you have a caring heart deep inside you. You tried to do something to help us and it unexpectedly went south. You couldn't have thought that Chrysalis, Tirek, and Cozy Glow would've stabbed you in the back like that. I also want to make something very clear right now, Spike was not angry at you or hated you for what happened to him. In fact right before he died, he used one of his last breaths to tell us not to be hard on you. He said that you never intended this to happen. If he were alive now, he'd want us to go over there and forgive you, it's just who he was. If we cannot forgive you, we are going against his final wishes and thus dishonoring his memory ," Fluttershy said, her turquiose eyes vibrationg with the same seriousness, but at the same time hope, at the day of the funeral when she gave a similar speech to an emotionally broken Twilight.

After listening to his best friend's speech, Discord felt like crying again, but this time it was out of happiness.

"Thank you. Thank you all so much," he whispered as he wrapped Fluttershy in a hug as he wept.

Slowly, the other ponies, even Celestia and Luna, joined in the hug and Discord couldn't be happier.

For a full minute they all just hugged each other and didn't say a word. Afterword they broke away before Fluttershy spoke up again.

"You've been couped up for too long in this small room and you need help dealing with your night terrors. It's time we headed back to the Castle of Friendship for some tea and we can talk about the things that we loved most about Spike. How does that sound?" Fluttershy asked sweetly.

"That would be lovely. Thank you, Fluttershy," Discord smiled back.

Fluttershy turned toward the other eight ponies. They felt so touched at Fluttershy's actions at reconnecting with Discord.

"Well done, Fluttershy," Princess Celestia said. "Today, you and your friends have proven that you all have a little bit of Spike's spirit in you."

"I couldn't agree more," Luna added. "I have no doubt that Prince Spike has never been more proud as he's looking down at us from the heavens."

With that Discord and Fluttershy took the lead as they walked back to the chariot to be transported back home, all feeling their hope they had gotten from each other right after the funeral strengthening twice as much.