Turn Back Time

by Steffie

Rating: teen
Tags: Random, Adventure, Princess Celestia, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Original Character
Length: 4455

Princess Celestia had used a powerful spell to send her to the far past to confront Discord when he was at his weakest.

Princess Celestia decided to go back in time in order to try and hopefully stop Discord from using his powers to create havoc and mayhem all over Equestria.

But, did she perhaps go a bit too far in time?

My first MLP:FIM fan-fic. Constructive Criticism would be much appreciated.

Published 2012-04-16 05:54:01 UTC
Last updated 2012-04-23 13:38:17 UTC

Behold the Former Ruler of Equestria: Discord!

Chapter 1: Behold the Former Ruler of Equestria: Discord!

It was another beautiful day in Equestria as the afternoon sun shone brightly high in the crystal-clear sky. The day was peaceful. Well, almost as the palace was quite noisy as a crowd of ponies were lead through the labyrinth and towards Discord's statue, Princess Celestia amongst the group.

Ever since Discord had been defeated by Twilight Sparkle and her friends, many ponies had decided to visit the palace labyrinth area to see the statue of this infamous creature that had caused so much chaos and disharmony. The princesses had allowed anypony to visit the draconequus, as long as either of them was amongst the group to make certain that everything would run smoothly.

"...and then Twilight Sparkle and her friends used the Elements of Harmony to turn him back into stone." the tour guide stated as the group stared at the strange creature before them. There was tension in the air as they noticed the Draconequus' pained, scared expression.

"Does anypony have any questions that you would like to ask?" Princess Celestia piped up when the tension became too thick for her liking.
"I'm confused, Your Highness. Why does Discord's head look so much like a goat if it's supposed to be that of a pony?" a stallion piped up. The alicorn covered her mouth with her hoof as she nearly snorted a loud laugh. She had thought the same thing.
"During Discord's rule, he insisted that his head is that of a pony. No one had dared to state otherwise; scared of how he would react."

"Did Discord's powers have any long-lasting side effects, Your Highness?" an elderly pegasus mare had asked in a suspicious tone. The princess of the sun sighed as she thought back. She also pondered why she sensed something ominous about her. The princess noticed that her coat's the same colour amber yellowish grey as Discord's head while her mane was white with grey stripes. The co-ruler of Equestria felt her heart nearly jump into her chest when she noticed that the mare's squinted eyes had partially hidden her crimson-red pupils and irises. What was also striking was the fact that her pegasus wings were blue.

Princess Celestia took a deep breath to calm herself before she spoke. No, it was just her imagination. Surely that couldn't be a draconequus.
"The sun and moon could no longer rise and set without the assistance of myself and my sister. Flora can no longer grow without help. The weather needs assistance of pegasi. Discord showed that deep inside that silly exterior, he is highly intelligent. He knew exactly how much magic to use on the sun and moon without destroying them."

"What else did he do, My Princess?" the tour guide asked as he became highly intrigued.
"He made the length of night and day only an hour. He also made the season changed randomly. Food couldn't be grown and ponies suffered from exhaustion, yet Discord warned that if they may not even miss a day of work or he'll make it worse. Since nopony could keep up with Discord's chaos and his demands, it nearly drove them insane. My sister and I had to intervene before that Draconequus could do more harm." the beautiful Alicorn snorted in anger. The group whispered amongst themselves after they had heard the horrible truth.

The same elderly pony from before cleared her throat before she bowed down and asked the white Alicorn a serious question.
"If I may be bold to ask, Your Highness..." The same elderly pony paused as she tried to choose the right words.
"Yes, you may." Princess Celestia nodded as she waited for the elderly pony to speak. She couldn't help but notice that she sensed a presence of two draconequi. One of them was Discord. Who was the other? Luckily enough, the power of the other was much weaker than Princess Celestia.
"...Have you ever tried to reason with Spirit Discord?"
"Yes, I had. I believed that even chaos and disharmony had a place in the world; just to remind everypony how grateful you should be for harmony and order. I first thought that Discord didn't realize how much damaged he had caused and that it's all a big misunderstanding. Luna and I confronted him and asked him to cut down on the chaos. In response, he laughed as if we were a huge joke. That's when we realized what a big threat he actually was. We also realized that since he is much more powerful than us, we needed to find something to stop him..."

A small colt cleared his throat as he approached the beautiful princess.
"Princess Celestia, are all Draconequi like Discord?" the colt asked nervously.
"To be honest, I have no idea. Discord is the first and only Draconequus that we had ever met. But, we should not judge the entire race because of one individual."

"Well, it's time for Her Majesty to set the sun. That's it for the tour. Hope you enjoyed your stay." the tour pony shouted loud enough for the crowd to hear as he led them back out of the labyrinth. After they had left, Princess Celestia flew high into the sky and towards the sun. From the corner of her eye, she noticed the elderly pegasus mare that flew at a decent speed. Deciding that she could always talk to the mare another time, she flew in front of the sun.

Princess Celestia grimaced in pain as memories of ponies being in agony while they begged her and Princess Luna to stop Discord flash in her mind's eye. Even though she had expected the tour may trigger these memories, it didn't stop them from being just as heartbreaking.

If only she and Luna stopped the Spirit of Harmony before it was too late. If only she could turn back time to when Discord was at his weakest and could be easily stopped...

Wait, that's it! There is a way to go back in time and stop Discord. An extremely powerful and dangerous spell that was never successfully casted before. Maybe that's the answer to stop that draconequus?

After she set the sun down, Princess Celestia flew back to her castle, hopeful that she finally found a way to stop Discord once and for all.

To Be Continued...

To Blend In

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...

The More You Know

*Much later that day*

"Well, this is sweet home." the dragon-headed draconequus grinned as he gestured to his guest the cave that was at the foot of the mountain. Princess Celestia was surprised at how it looked from the outside.

As if he had read her mind, the giant draconequus cleared his throat to catch the disguised alicorn's attention.
"It's much bigger from the inside, especially since we Power and Fair Draconequis had build little homes for us to live in underground. It's very spacious. The Sage Draconequis used a special spell to shield us from any outsiders. It's a good thing too...I don't trust those not from our groups, especially those shape-shifting pony-like creatures."

"Oh, that's interesting." the beautiful princess as she followed Sweetheart to her home, Sage The Wise and Power Might behind them. The female had offered her to stay at her place to thank her for saving her and her new child.
"Sage The Wise, would you please cast some milk for the little one?" Sweetheart asked as she lay the infant on the floor.
"Of course, little dear." the dragon-headed draconequus smiled as he snapped the fingers of both hands to produce a bottle of warm milk.

"If I may ask, do you not have any magical powers?" Princess Celestia piped up. She was met with confused stares. No one noticed that Discord drank the bottle and threw the milk away.
"You're kidding, right? You do know that Fair Draconequis have no magic and can only fly, Power Draconequis are the most powerful but can't fly, yet have decent magic and that Sage Draconequis have tremendous magic, their heads are always non-pony because of their magic and that they too can't fly? Isn't it be so?" Sage The Wise demanded in a threatening tone.

The disguised princess felt her heart almost jump out of her ribcage as she realized her huge mistake.
"...I lost all my memory after some creature had attacked me and made me bump my head hard on something. That's why I cannot reveal my name as I don't even know what it is." Princess Celestia cringed as she realized how stupid and corny it sounded...

"...That's just horrible! I'm so sorry that we doubted you, dear. You see, non-draconequis always made us nervous. They just so strange and chaotic. Have you seen their limbs? They're all the same!" Might patted the heroine on the shoulder with a bit too much force. If she had looked at the dragon-headed one, she would've noticed that Sage The Wise frowned as he tried to make sense of her story.

"So, what should I call you?" Sweetheart's voice piped up as she curled her tail around the sleeping colt-cub. Power Might brought his antler and horn close to the baby's body.
"Hmm, he's magic is quite powerful and felt quite chaotic to me."
"His head looks like a mix of a goat and a pony...plus he possesses wings. I know it's a colt-cub because the stubs on his head is a bit larger than a filly-cub." The Wise tilted his head in confusion as he brought his horn and antler closer to the body.
"Turn him on his back, Fair Sweetheart, if you please."

As the female draconequus had done so, there were collected gasps. Since Princess Celestia's view was block by Power Might's body, she couldn't see what shocked them so much.
"The baby isn't a colt-cub!" all three gasped in confusion.

The Equestrian princess' jaw nearly dropped to the floor. Discord is female? But, his voice was deep and masculine! He even had a body shape of a male and had a beard! It doesn't even make sense...wait, didn't Discord used to mention that there's no fun in making sense?

"...yeah, and it isn't a filly-cub either! The pony-cub doesn't have a gender!" Fair Sweetheart stated as she used the tip of her tail for the new-born to use as a pillow.
"This is spectacular, my dear draconequis!" Sage The Wise giggled in delight.
"Oh, and why is that?" the other three asked in confusion.
"This little one is a Spirit Draconequus, the most powerful and rare out of all the groups! The have all the features of all three tribes and has extremely powerful magic. This one in particular must be really powerful; notice that his head has the right combination of a pony and goat? That shows that it has control of its powers. I can also sense that it's the Spirit of Chaos. We must teach it to be only loyal to us."

"No Sage The Wise, we must teach it love and affection. We mustn't use it as a tool." Fair Sweetheart stated firmly as she stared at the dragon-headed male in the eyes.
"It won't work on the Spirit, Fair Sweetheart. You see, Spirit Draconequis can't feel love at all. It's not part of their nature."
"That's not true, you'll see."
"You're wrong! It's like demanding a Sage or Power Draconequus to fly or a Fair Draconequus to use magic. It's impossible. You'll be wasting your time and you'll find out that no matter how much it respects, admires you and appreciated that you raised it, it would never love you as its mother. It would despise and have discomfort when it comes to friendship and love."

The dragon-headed draconequus snorted when he realized that his words didn't affect the female at all.
"I have to go back to my home. I'll see you tomorrow." Sage The Wise whispered in a low voice. Before he left, he leaned closer to Princess Celestia and whispered into her ear.
"You're not fooling me, non-Draconequus. I don't know how you managed to even understand and speak our language, but I am be watching you!"

The princess' eyes widened in surprise. She whipped her head around as she hoped that nopony else had heard the sage. Fair Sweetheart and Power Might were too busy playing with the baby to notice her uneasiness.

*The next morning*

As soon as Princess Celestia sensed that the sun had risen, she got up and sat outside of the cave. The time-traveling trip definitely didn't go as planned. All she wanted to do was to convince a younger Discord that he can use his chaotic powers in moderation and that it would still be fun. Yet, she went back in time when her foe couldn't even crawl properly yet...

She lost her track of thought when she heard Sweetheart sat down next to her. The princess turned her head to look at the female and noticed that she looked quite sad.
"Power Might and I had struggled to get the little one to sleep. It couldn't stop crying. But, when we had a disagreement about what we should call it, it was happy and dozed off. Maybe Sage The Wise should rise it, even though I have doubts about it."
"What do you mean?" the disguised alicorn asked in a suspicious tone.
"Sage The Wise had raised these Spirit Draconequis in the past. He may not look it, but he's three millennia in age. He teleported scrolls to me that told about his history with the Spirits. Even he couldn't stop them from giving in to their savage and mindless natures. This is the first time I am raising a pony-cub...how can I raise it?"

Princess Celestia got up from where she sat and looked at the smaller female in the eye.
"It's simple, actually. Raise him with love and affection. Teach it from right and wrong. Teach him about friendships and what friendship aren't about. Teach him to never hurt or kill anypony. Discord would grow up to value the morals you have taught him, even though he might never understand love or friendship."
"Thank you. But, how did you know that my mate and I had decided this morning to call it Discord?"
"...The little one looked like he could be a Discord."
"...Oh..."

"I must go back home. Thank you for your hospitality. Good luck to your family. Please remember that no matter how pointless and hopeless it may be, remember to raise that little one with all the love and care you can manage. Believe me, you won't regret it. And whatever you do, don't give in to Sage The Wise's demands. Goodbye, Fair Sweetheart."

Princess Celestia flew off into the distance. When she was satisfied that the distance is far enough, she used the Turn Back Time spell to go back to the present, just before she had went back in time.

When she had opened her eyes, she stood in front of Discord's statue. She used her magic to transform back into her true form. When she was done, she stood on her hind hooves and stared straight into the eyes of her foe.
"I feel sorry for you...I truly do. To not feel love or be able to form friendships with anypony. To only feel joy when anypony are having arguments, disagreements or hatred with one another...it must be quite lonely. The only thing you can truly depend on would be your chaos. No wonder the Elements of Harmony had turned you into stone. There's no hope. But, I should be grateful that you didn't actually try to kill anypony. You could've easily have done so, right? For that, I thank you for having some morals...for actually listening to what you adopted mother and father had taught you."

After she was satisfied that she had gotten that load off her chest, the alicorn princess decided to go and try and spend some time with Luna. It had been way too long since she had long done so.

After she was high in the skies, Discord's statue shone a pale blue for a moment and then stopped. Soft, deep laughter filled the air as a figure with a long body slithered towards the statue and wrapped its tail around it. Its eyes glowed for a moment before the figure teleported itself away.

The End?

Author's Notes: That is the final chapter of Turn Back Time. I would like to thank all my readers as you mean a lot to me ^_^