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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.
"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.
"What else did he do, My Princess?" the tour guide asked as he became highly intrigued.
The same elderly pony from before cleared her throat before she bowed down and asked the white Alicorn a serious question.
A small colt cleared his throat as he approached the beautiful princess.
"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...
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.
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.
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.
"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.
"Well I'll be, where did this little colt-cub came from?" the giant draconequus laughed in happiness.
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...
*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.
"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.
"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.
The disguised princess felt her heart almost jump out of her ribcage as she realized her huge mistake.
"...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.
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 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.
"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.
The dragon-headed draconequus snorted when he realized that his words didn't affect the female at all.
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.
Princess Celestia got up from where she sat and looked at the smaller female in the eye.
"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.
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 ^_^
