"We're not really going to give into his demands, are we?" Rarity asked.
They had left the waxy throne room to continue their meeting in the map room.
"We may not have a choice," Twilight said. "Discord thought this out very well. I need my horn to power the Elements, but the only way I can get it back is if we don't use the Elements to stop him. Finding a piece of land with no ponies around will not be difficult."
"What about the third deal?" Applejack inquired.
She sighed. "Discord knows how desperate we are to get the princesses back."
"But we can't just hand some pony over to be his wife!" Rarity exclaimed. "We might as well be making a sacrifice to the Devil!"
"He said his bride has to go willingly. I think we should announce this to the citizens and see if any pony is willing to make such a sacrifice."
Fluttershy had been silent the entire time. She couldn't get over the fact that Discord had been there. The way he had spoken to her, touched her, looked at her, it gave her the shivers. She told herself she was being paranoid, but if that was the case, why did he seem to single her out?
"We should at least accept the terms of the first two," Twilight decided. "If I had my magic, we could be able to find another solution, and it would be easier to think if there weren't pigs flying outside."
Every pony nodded in agreement.
"What about Cadence?" Shining Armor asked. "And our daughter?"
"I want her back too, Shining Armor," his sister assured him, "but to sacrifice one of our own..."
"I don't like the idea either, but...Discord has a point. Instead of losing four, we would only lose one. And...I don't know how long Cadence will last."
"She's strong. No matter what her conditions, she's always been able to pull through. Celestia and Luna will be strong too. Wherever they are, I'm sure they are holding out."
"You want to get married?!" Luna scoffed after Discord had told them his plan. "Who in the world would want to marry you?"
"Go ahead, laugh!" Discord said, rolling his eyes. "Just thought you would want to know what your lives are going to cost."
"You will never get away with this, Discord!" Celestia bellowed.
"Yes, yes. The whole 'you will never get away this' speech. I will respond with the usual comeback: 'oh, but I will!' Any other cliché's you would like to point out, Celestia?"
"Just you wait until Shining Armor gets here!" Cadence snapped.
"You mean Prince Good-for-Nothing who always needs his baby sister to come in and save the day?"
She growled and lashed her hooves through the bars of the cage. Discord simply laughed.
"Oh, you three are just too amusing! Either of you willing to save the others and accept my proposal?"
Luna spat at him while Celestia shouted, "Never!"
"And I'm already married, creep!" Cadence barked.
"Hey, just asking," Discord said innocently.
A voice called from outside the cave. "Discord!"
The draconequus turned. "Oh, would you look at that? Sorry to leave you, girls, but I have a meeting."
With a wave of his paw, the cage vanished and he went to meet his visitor. Twilight Sparkle and her five companions were standing at the entrance.
"Ah, my old friends! Have you made your decision already?"
