Turn Back Time

As soon as Princess Celestia's hooves landed on the front of her castle, she galloped towards her chambers. She didn't even noticed that her sister had woken up for her nightly duties and that she had dashed right passed her. After she finally arrived, she used a spell to teleport one of the time spells books from Star Swirl the Bearded's wing from the Canterlot archives.

"Now, where is that Turn Back Time spell?" the alicorn pondered out loud. After what felt like hours, she finally found the spell. She softly read the description of the spell to herself.
"The Turn Back Time spell: An extremely powerful spell that was created by Starswirl the Bearded. He originally intended the spell to be able to send the spell caster to five millennia in the past, yet it can only send them back in a week into the past at the most; if that pony is powerful and skilled enough to handle the spell. As the spell hadn't done what Starswirl the Bearded had intended he saw it as a failure."

Since Princess Celestia and her sister are the most powerful ponies of Equestria, maybe the spell could work with her? Five millennia into the past do seem like the perfect timeframe to confront Discord when he was at his weakest. Maybe she could try and convince him that using his chaos powers in moderation would be just as fun as how he usually used it?

But there's a problem: should she really go to the past as an alicorn? She had no idea what Discord might have thought of ponies back when he was younger, which could sabotage her mission. No, she had to disguise herself as a female draconequus.

While she had no idea how a female draconequus would look like, she used a transformation spell and imagined how one would look like. She closed her eyes as magical sparkles orbited around her as she slowly changed. One of her front legs became that of a bird's talon while the other became that of a lioness. While her head and neck were exactly the same as when she was a pony, the fur had the same colour as Discord's. Her body became just as long as her former foe's while her back legs became that of a lizard and a goat's. Her tail became that of a dragon's with fluffy tip. Her sclera became yellow while her irises and pupils became ruby red. Her unicorn horn disappeared and was replaced by two small stubs instead of a deer antler and goat horn. While her mane still had the same style, it became ebony black. She also had a much smaller dragon tooth than Discord's. Her wings transformed into that of a bat and a pegasus. She still had the same height she had when had her true form.

After the transformation spell was complete, Princess Celestia tried to walk a few steps. She nearly tripped over her new feet. No wonder Discord flew and floated so much as her limbs didn't want to work together!

When she had finally had a completely focused mind, she tried to cast the Turn Back Time spell. Nothing happened. Wait; maybe when she transformed into a draconequus her magic is located somewhere else in her body? Is that why her unicorn magic didn't work?

The princess stared at her talon and lioness paw as she tried to sense where her magic is located inside her body. Wait, they are in her paws? She tried to cast the spell by slapping them together, but nothing happened. How did Discord perform his magic again? Wait, didn't he snap his fingers together? Maybe she should do the same?

Chanting the Turn Back Time spell, Princess Celestia snapped her fingers. She closed her eyes as a brilliant flash of rainbow light enveloped her entire body. When she opened her eyes again, she found herself in a forest. Could it be Everfree Forest before she and her sister's castle was built there?

Before she could try and identify anything, she heard something from a far distance. It sounded like an animal in distress. Curious, she floated towards the direction where she had heard the sound. As she got closer, she realized that it sounded like a cross between a bleat of a baby goat and a cry of a lion cub. When she got close enough, she noticed a small creature that couldn't be any bigger than Spike in size a metre away.
She also noticed that her draconequus' maternal instincts were flaring and screamed for her to help this creature.

When she finally stood in front of the tiny creature, she felt her heart skip a beat. It was a baby draconequus. It simply lay on the ground on its stomach while it cried for its mother. When it tried to lift its head, she noticed that its eyes were still closed. Is this a new-born? While she pondered where the mother was, she suddenly sensed Discord's power. It was pathetically weak, but she knew that he was close-by.

The co-ruler of Equestria watched in curiosity as the new-born tried to crawl towards her. The baby was actually quite adorable, with its round head and tiny body. Tuffs of white hair matched its eyebrows. The new-born looked like how she imagined Discord would've looked like as an infant, minus looking adorable...

Wait a minute; she had sensed Discord's power coming from the baby! Had she actually gone so far back in time to the day when Discord was born? Well, she had wanted to go back in time when he was at his weakest...

Now that she had met her foe when he was at his weakest and most vulnerable, what now? Before she could do anything, she sensed the presence of another draconequus nearby. She hid behind the trees as she heard the sounds of wings flapping until a draconequus landed in front of the tree where the princess had hid.

From where she was, she noticed that this is a female draconequus and it reminded her of that elderly pegaus mare. Could she be the same one? She took note that what was different about female would be that she had the head of a pony, just like herself, yet had two stubs in her head and no dragon fang. The draconequus was as tall as an average adult mare in height on all fours, although she did have a long body. Her mane is much shorter; with her mane on her head being short and curled at the tip of her fringe.

The alicorn-turned-draconequus watched in anticipation as the female draconequus noticed the new-born Discord that lay on the ground. She sniffed at the baby before she made a sound that sounded like a mix between a roar of a lion and a dragon. Baby Discord responded by a loud bleat. The draconequus lifted her new colt-cub by lifting it up by the scruff of the neck with her teeth. The tip of her tail flicked as she gently trotted across the forest. She didn't hear a snarl that was high above her.

Without warning, there was a ferocious growl as a Manticore leaped from its hiding place and landed in front of the female draconequus and Discord. The female gently dropped Discord onto the floor and used the tip of her tail to wrap it around him to protect him. She bared her sharp teeth as the hungry Manticore eyed his prey.

Princess Celestia floated from her hiding and landed in front of the Manticore. She ignored the confused gasp from the female draconequus as she instinctively tried to use her unicorn magic.
"Go and leave! I'll handle this Manticore!" the princess shouted.
"But, Power Might and Sage The Wise would be here any moment to help me! Go and save yourself, fellow Draconequus." The female draconequus retorted in a soft, yet assertive voice. Ignoring her concerns, Princess Celestia snapped her fingers to transport the Manticore to somewhere far away and safe. Both females turned around when they heard hoofsteps of someone running from the direction where Princess Celestia had hid earlier.

"Fair Sweetheart, are you okay?" came a booming voice as two male draconequus came from the far corner of the forest. The disguised alicorn blinked in surprise when she noticed one of the males had a head of a dragon while the other was a giant in size and a head of a stallion. She had noticed when they closer that the one with the dragon head had both dragon fangs and no horns or antlers with the other had no dragon fang but had both an antler and a horn of a goat. She also noticed that neither had any wings.

"I'm fine, thanks to her." Sweetheart pointed her talon at Princess Celestia.
"Thank you muchly, fellow dear Draconequus." the male with the dragon-head nodded. His giant companion cocked his head in confusion as he noticed something small that was wrapped around in Sweetheart's tail. Princess Celestia noticed that the dragon-headed one wore an evil smirk for some reason.

"Well I'll be, where did this little colt-cub came from?" the giant draconequus laughed in happiness.
"I found the little dear here in the forest. I don't know where the mother is."
"Hmm, let's take him one with us. Your rescuer may come with us, especially since we do need to thank her properly." the dragon-headed male stated as he looked straight at Princess Celestia in the eye.
"No need to thank me..." the princess started before she was cut off by the giant dragonequus wrapping his arm over her shoulder.
"It's the least we could do, dear."
"Oh, alright. I'll accept your invitation."

The disguised alicorn flew next to Sweetheart while they traveled back to the draconequis' home. Maybe this is the perfect opportunity to find out more about draconequis and change the future by encouraging Discord's adopted mother how to properly raise him?

To Be Continued...