Love Is Never a Mistake

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Epilogue

Chapter 1

A tall, long, pinkest of all pink things exploded into existence just outside of Ponyville, appearing in a storm of pink lightning, bubbling pink hearts, and the powerful scent of roses. Its body was long, serpentine, and misshapen. Strange magic crackled all around the tall figure, and then it moved, floating, moving away from the now dying storm of magic.

It wasn’t long until this mysterious figure encountered a pony, who stood cowering, frightened, scared, and almost ready to wet itself. The tall figure smiled, revealing multiple rows of jagged, terrifying teeth, teeth that were oh-so-very white against the rest of its pink body.

“Hi there!” the pink figure said in a jubilant voice. “Can you tell me where to find Twilight Sparkle?”

The pony, a stallion, let out a gasp and fainted. The tall figure paused, looking down, almost as though it was reflecting upon the fragile nature of life. It snapped its claws, summoned a large, fluffy, pink pillow, lifted the stallion’s head, stuffed the pillow beneath it, and then laid the stallion’s head down.

“Poor little fella. I’m sorry. I guess I’ll go looking for Twilight Sparkle on my own. You just have a nice nap. We’ll talk later.”

The long serpentine figure floated off, contorting its long sinuous body into a heart shape for a moment, giggling, and then straightening itself out as it floated, appearing to be relaxing upon an invisible bed.

Alone in her vast, cavernous study, Princess Twilight Sparkle could hear faint screaming coming from outside. Feeling alarmed, she lifted her head from her book, which was titled Friendship Algebra Volume #117, a short series of books she had written herself.

Twilight Sparkle took to the air, breaking her own rule about flying indoors. Her wings flapped, making powerful strokes, propelling her forwards at incredible speed. She flew down the hall, shoved the large double doors open, and emerged into Ponyville.

Right away, she saw the source of the problem. A long pink figure was causing the panic. Twilight Sparkle did a double take. This was no ordinary problem. This was a draconequus! It was long and very, very pink, covered in pink stripes and pink polka dots. One hind leg appeared to be a giant, oversized bunny rabbit leg, and the fur of that appendage looked as though it was pink plaid, all in various shades of pink. The other hind leg was that of a pony. The two front legs were mismatched as well, with one looking like a griffon’s front leg, complete with talons, and the other looked like a diamond dog’s paw… or something. It was grinning, revealing multiple rows of terrifying teeth.

Fearing for her life, Twilight Sparkle raised her shield as the draconequus approached, and then wondered what spells she might have that could bring such a beast down. She began charging up her horn.

“AUNTIE TWILIGHT! YOU’RE SO SMALL! AND ADORABLE! I HAVEN’T SEEN YOU FOR LIKE TWENTY MINUTES! I MISSED YOU!”

The draconequus lunged forwards, her front forelegs extended, her mouth wide in the most terrifying smile aboveground from Tartarus, and she let out a girlish squeal of happiness.

Stunned, Twilight’s magic died and her mouth hung open in disbelief. A second later, Twilight felt the impact of the pink and fluffy creature striking her. She tumbled end over end and could hear the screams of those around her. Twilight Sparkle found herself knocked flat on her back, her wings spread, her legs pointing up in the air, and the big serpentine body of the draconequus was on top of her, pressed up against her, and the two long forelegs were wrapping around her neck.

Twilight Sparkle did the only thing she could do in the situation. She screamed in terror as the nightmarish maw descended towards her face. A moment later, she was being kissed, over and over, horrible slobbery kisses that there could be no doubts about, they were affectionate. This was not a face eating draconequus.

The supine alicorn felt very, very confused. She didn’t know what was going on, and she wasn’t being torn limb from limb. She was being loved on. She heard a very strange sound, heavy breathing, and then she realised that the strange draconequus was crying, just a little.

“Who are you?” Twilight asked in a creaky, almost squeaky voice. “How do you know me? Why are you here?”

The long, slinky draconequus untangled herself from Twilight Sparkle, moved back, lifted Twilight Sparkle up, set the alicorn up on her hooves, brushed off a little dust, and then patted the alicorn on the cheek.

Drawing herself up to her full height, the draconequus spoke. “My name is Princess Mi Adora Cadenza…” The draconequus paused and then grinned, somehow revealing even more shark-like teeth. “But you, Auntie, you call me Adora Belle.”

Twilight, stunned as she was, began to put two and two together, trying to make sense of this situation. This creature kept calling her ‘Auntie’ and she had a most peculiar name. Twilight Sparkle shook her head in disbelief. She backed away, still shaking her head. “Cadance is your mother?”

“Yep! Where is Mommy… I haven’t seen her for almost… I dunno, a half an hour and I’m starting to miss her.” Adora Belle reached down and began to scratch her stomach with her large dog like paw.

“I don’t understand what is going on… Cadance… Princess Cadance… she’s… how are you even possible?” Twilight demanded, hoping not to sound too rude.

“Mommy and Daddy and you all wanted to save me. Bad things were happening. The world was ending and there was all kinds of—” Adora froze and fell silent for moment, staring at Twilight Sparkle. “Whoops. Mommy will be angry with me… maybe even stand me in the corner. I’m not supposed to reveal the future.”

“Wait, wait, wait!” Twilight shouted. “Who is your father?” Twilight bit her lip, fearing the answer, already shaking her head in disbelief, not wanting to hear what she knew was going to be the reply.

“Daddy is Discord. Where is he? Is he behaving himself?” Adora looked around Ponyville, which was now almost empty, at least in the general vicinity.

This has to be an elaborate prank, Twilight Sparkle thought to herself. She swallowed, took a deep breath, and summoned all of her princessly authority. “Adora, as your aunt, I demand to know relevant details.” Twilight watched as Adora’s head whipped around to look at her. She made another painful realisation upon seeing Adora’s face.

Adora was still a foal. A very big foal. A very, very big foal that was somehow even longer than Discord. A exceptionally large foal. Or whatever it was a draconequus was when they were little. The drooping ears, the fearful expression, the playful behaviour, the fear of being stood in the corner, Twilight Sparkle realised she was not dealing with an adult. The poor thing looked scared out of her mind and Twilight understood that it was she who had frightened what might just be her niece. A terrible, crushing feeling of guilt flooded through Twilight, and she felt ashamed.

“What do you want to know?” Adora asked in a low, meek voice, slumping down and cowering, her lower lip trembling.

Seeing the fearful look on the draconequus’ face made Twilight want to kick herself. She felt awful, just awful, and she knew that if Fluttershy were here, there would be a scolding, a scolding that Twilight Sparkle knew that she deserved.

The alicorn softened her tone and began her questions. “Adora, tell me, what happened to Shining Armor?” Twilight Sparkle felt that this was the most important question of all.

“He died before I was born. A long, long time before I was born. Mommy still loves him. She keeps his picture in a locket. Daddy gave her the locket to hold the picture. Shiny died of old age, back when the world was still good.”

Twilight Sparkle felt a growing lump in her throat. That was not an answer she expected. She decided on a softer question. “When you first saw me, you said I was small. Am I different when I know you?”

The draconequus nodded with great enthusiasm, her head bobbing up and down. “You’re big and tall. Real big and real tall. And your mane is all flowy and full of stars.”

Stunned, Twilight Sparkle sat down in the dirt and stared up at the tall figure. “How far ahead in the future do you come from?”

Adora shrugged and looked apologetic. “I dunno.”

Twilight Sparkle thought about asking what was causing the end of the world, but thought better of it. There would always be time later. Instead, she asked, “Adora, do you know how your Mommy and Daddy came to love each other?”

“It’s my favourite bedtime story!” Adora lunged forwards, plopping over at Twilight’s front hooves, rolled over, and looked up at her aunt. Adora’s long tail whipped around and then curled around Twilight Sparkle’s left foreleg. “Daddy was sad… his best friend in the whole wide world had died. It hurt him. He didn’t understand why he was hurting, but it hurt him. He became so sad that he begged the Princesses to turn him to stone so he could stop hurting. He begged and begged.”

“Did they?” Twilight asked, already knowing who Discord’s friend was. The lump in her throat grew larger. Twilight hoped that Fluttershy never heard this story, it would crush Fluttershy to know that she had hurt Discord.

“Nope.” Adora shook her head. “Daddy tried to make himself forget. He hurt himself. He didn’t get better. Mommy was hurting too. She had lost Shiny. She felt bad for Discord. A lot of stuff happened that I can’t talk about. I don’t think I should.” Adora reached up and petted Twilight’s chest. “Anyways, many many years passed and Discord is still moping around, feeling very sad about the loss of his best friend. Mommy got mad at you for not doing more to comfort Discord during his time of need, and you told Mommy that Discord was a very difficult creature to love.”

“I did?” Twilight asked.

The draconequus nodded. “You did. It made Mommy sad. So Mommy, being the Alicorn of Love, set out to make Discord feel loved and appreciated. She tried and tried, but Discord just wanted to mope and feel bad. He sent her away. Mommy was pretty upset about this. This was a creature who did not want to be loved, and it made Mommy’s heart hurt. It hurt her real bad, and she could feel his loneliness.”

“That sounds awful… poor Cadance,” Twilight said, looking down into the bright pink and yellow eyes of her possible niece.

“Mommy never gave up. She tells me all the time that love is a challenge, and unconditional love is the toughest challenge of all.” Adora’s face scrunched up. “Mommy tells me that sometimes I’m difficult to love… I don’t mean to cause trouble.”

Twilight, feeling herself warm up to Adora, smiled. “I can’t imagine you causing any trouble at all. Now tell me more.”

“One day, Discord comes up to Mommy and he gives her a flower. A little white flower. And that was the start of their relationship. Mommy says it took almost fifty years after that flower for Discord to say that he loved her. A few decades after that, Discord proposed and begged her to be his wife. They got married as the trouble got worse… and I was born a while later, when the war started. But I shouldn’t talk about that. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Twilight replied.

“After I was born, Discord became Daddy. Mommy became happy, and you became my Auntie Twilight. It’s all your fault that I turned out spoiled, at least that is what Mommy and Daddy say.” Adora smiled up at Twilight, her nightmarish teeth glinting in the sun.

Twilight, now filled with a million questions, like why Adora hadn’t mentioned Princess Celestia or Princess Luna at all, and Twilight didn’t quite know what to say. The draconequus, for all of her terrible teeth, seemed utterly harmless, docile, and gentle. Twilight Sparkle could think of only one last question for now, something to satisfy her curiousity.

“How did you get sent back? Time travel… you're supposed to get yanked back to where you started. Can you tell me anything?” Looking down, Twilight Sparkle could see that the foal’s face now looked quite serious.

“Daddy gave his magic to you… I watched it happen. He said that I had to be kept safe and with his magic and your magic, there should be enough to break the rules.” Adora blinked, her eyes filling with tears. “When Daddy gave you his magic, he fell down and went to sleep. Mommy took him away, carrying him to bed after she let me kiss him g’night. Mommy was crying… I think because she knew that you were going to send me away. She kissed me a whole bunch and told me that she loved me and then she carried Daddy away and he must have been really tired because he was limp and he didn’t move or float or do anything that Daddy usually does. And then you kissed me a bunch of times and you did some kind of magic and here I am.”

Twilight Sparkle felt an agonising pain in her heart and it took every ounce of willpower she had to keep from crying. She could feel painful pressure behind her eyes, her guts churned, her heart ached, and more than anything, Twilight Sparkle wanted to throw herself down upon Adora and begin sobbing.

“I hope Daddy’s okay. I’m a little worried.” Adora looked up at Twilight and then wiped her eyes with her dog leg.

“I’m sure he’s fine,” Twilight said, lying through her teeth. “Adora, why don’t you come inside with me, and I’ll get you some cookies and some chocolate milk, and I’ll see what I can do to get in touch with Cadance and Discord. And then we’ll all sit down and try to sort all of this out, okay?”

“Okay… but I think I need a nap. I feel a case of the crankies coming on,” Adora replied. “Auntie?”

“Yes?”

“Before I forget, you gave me a message to tell you.”

“I did?” Twilight tilted her head off to one side and studied the big pink nightmare laying on the ground before her.

“Yep.” Adora nodded. “I don’t understand it though.”

“What did I tell you?” Twilight asked, fearing the answer.

“A draconequus exists outside of harmony but not outside of love.” Adora’s face scrunched into a quizzical expression. “What does that mean?”

“I don’t know Adora… I don’t know.” Twilight reached down and patted what might just be her niece. “Come inside with me, and let’s let Ponyville calm down. We can talk more inside.”

Author's Note

This was a story that had to be written. It shouldn't be too long.

Considerate, constructive critiques are welcome, opinions are valued, and I would love to hear what you think of this silly little love story that I am writing. Thank you so very much for reading, and for giving me a chance to have fun with a few random electrons.

You guys are great, see you next chapter.

Chapter 2

Twilight Sparkle pushed open the doors of her castle, looked inside, and then saw Spike approaching the doors. The little dragon froze, unmoving, and his eyes went wide with terror. Twilight Sparkle started to say something, but her words failed to manifest in time.

“OH MY GOSH! SPIKE! YOU’RE SO CUTE AND LITTLE!”

There was a supersonic pink blur as Twilight Sparkle’s mane whipped out in front of her face from the roaring wind. Twilight had to brace her hooves to keep from being blown over. Cringing, Twilight could do nothing as Spike was pounced upon by the hyperactive pink menace that may or may not be Twilight Sparkle’s niece.

“TWILIGHT HELP ME!”

Standing in the doorway, Twilight Sparkle debated helping Spike. He wasn’t being harmed, far from it, he was being loved on and cuddled. He was already soaked from slobbery kisses. The baby dragon squirmed, wiggled, and fought to escape Adora’s boa constrictor like embrace.

“Spike… I don’t even know how to explain. But she knows you even if you don’t know her… I’ll try to explain later, okay Spike?” Twilight watched as the dragon was almost suffocated with love and affection.

“Spike you’re so small… normally you pick me up and cuddle me like this!” Adora cried in a voice that echoed through the crystal castle.

“I don’t even know you!” Spike kicked and wiggled but was powerless.

“So snuggly!” Adora closed her eyes and gave Spike a mighty squeeze, which made Spike’s eyes bulge. “I love you so much! Now I can noogie you!”

Twilight Sparkle watched the heartwarming scene and felt good about it. Spike could always use more love and affection. Twilight heard Spike giggling and the ringing sound of Adora’s laughter filled the castle as the draconequus tickled the dragon. A peculiar feeling of contentment settled over Twilight and she sat down upon the floor to watch as the snuggle-fest continued.

Still holding Spike, Adora froze and looked at Twilight Sparkle. “Do I still have to attend school?” Adora’s eyes blinked, first one, then the other. One ear, rabbit-like, stood straight up, while the other, pony-like, drooped down.

“School?” Twilight asked.

“School. You were my tutor. When you were home, you took time out of your busy day to teach me stuff,” Adora replied.

“I did?” Twilight watched as Adora nodded. “Well, we can’t have you skipping school I suppose… that would be awful. I’ll have to figure something out.”

No longer squirming, Spike allowed himself to be held. He looked at Twilight, his claws drumming on Adora’s dog-like front leg. “Twilight, you have a lot of explaining to do.”

“Spike, I will tell you everything I know, but first, I promised Adora some chocolate milk and cookies. Then I think she needs a nap. After that, I will tell you everything that I know,” Twilight said to Spike.

“Naptime!” Adora announced. She then fell over with a thud, crashing down to the floor, her long body flopping out, her eyes snapping shut. Her tail whipped around and she curled up, her tail becoming a comfortable pillow. In moments, a low rumbling sound filled the hallway.

Spike was still pinned in Adora’s embrace, still the draconequus foal’s prisoner. He glared at Twilight, a sour expression upon his face. “Free me.”

“Spike, she looks so cute… you’re like a little stuffed animal… Spike, I think she loves you a great deal,” Twilight said, her brain almost shutting down from terminal cuteness.

“Just… help me get free!”

“Do you think she is telling the truth?” Spike asked.

Twilight sighed, but did not answer right away. A message had been sent to Princess Celestia, offering a brief summary of the current situation. Twilight didn’t know what to believe. A part of her was desperate to believe Adora, but she had lingering doubts. There were moments where Adora was a little too well spoken, but then again, Spike was also well spoken for being a baby dragon. What troubled Twilight was a lack of tangible evidence, proof that Adora was telling the truth.

“Spike, I do wish to believe her, but I do have some doubts.”

“Do you think that Discord might be pranking us?” Spike looked up at Twilight, his face both sad and uncertain. “If so, why would Discord want to play a prank this mean?”

Again, Twilight did not answer right away. She peered through the doorway at the large pink creature napping in the hallway, just in front of the large double doors. Double doors that had been double locked. And then double locked again with magic, for good measure. It seemed quiet outside in Ponyville, there were no audible screams that Twilight could hear.

“Twilight, everything you told me sounds crazy—” Spike’s voice dropped and his eyes narrowed. “Do you really believe that Discord might be dead in the future?”

“Well, Spike, logically speaking, if Discord learned to love, and he stopped being selfish, if, and this is a pretty big if, if he acted upon being a father, and he was married to Cadance, if this is true, then he would do what loving fathers do and look after their little fillies. Even if it meant their death.” Twilight Sparkle shook her head, feeling a growing sense of uncertainty.

“I’ve actually heard Cadance say that Discord just needed somepony to show him a little love.” Spike hugged his forelegs around his body and gave himself a reassuring squeeze.

“I wonder if Discord gets lonely.” Twilight began to feel a creeping feeling of something almost like guilt. “Maybe Discord isn’t as reformed as he should be because we’ve failed to be nice enough to him.”

“We should sic Adora upon him. I think she could love anything.” A half smile appeared upon Spike’s face.

Twilight gave serious thought to Spike’s words, weighing them in her mind, taking what little bit she knew about Adora and everything she knew about Cadance. “Well, if she is actually Cadance’s foal, what you say might be true. Cadance would raise her foal to love everything.”

Spike peered through the door at the slumbering pink behemoth. “She has Cadance’s mane. Sort of.”

“She does. And she is a very, very pink. Just like Cadance.” Twilight, reaching out with her magic, pulled Spike closer, feeling very affectionate. “Have I mentioned to you lately that I love you?”

Spike did not reply. He resisted for a moment, squirming, and then allowed himself to be hugged. Closing his eyes, he rested his head on Twilight, and felt a wing slip around him. This was nice, even if he refused to admit it.

Twilight, always a thinker, began to ponder about the various ways she could test if Adora was telling the truth. Some means of determining what had happened. Some reason to explain why the draconequus was here. How the draconequus was here.

There were some big issues to address. If the future was being changed by having Adora in the past, if the future changed enough, would Adora even be born? Would she just vanish? Disappear? Might she prevent her own birth? How was she escaping the irresistible force that should be pulling her back into the future?

If this was a prank, could Discord make new life? Was Adora an illusion? A figment of her imagination? Or was Adora another as of yet unknown draconequus that was in cahoots with Discord, playing an elaborate prank? Overwhelmed, Twilight wondered if she could even begin to deal with this issue. She had no idea where to even start.

“I’m scared Twilight,” Spike said, unaware that his words jolted Twilight from her pensive musings.

“Why are you scared, Spike?” Twilight pulled Spike a little closer.

“I just am. I don’t know how this is going to turn out. What will Cadance say? What if she rejects Adora? What if somepony refuses to believe in this and it hurts her feelings? Adora seems to be a draconequus, and she could be dangerous Twilight… what if Adora gets her feelings hurt and she has a tantrum? How are you going to stop her?”

Now Twilight was feeling a little scared. Trying to stop a draconequus was easier said than done. Fluttershy might be able to calm Adora down if things went wrong. A part of Twilight had trouble believing that Adora would hurt anypony. Adora seemed harmless enough, big scary teeth and all. She was like a big pink fluffy pillow stuffed with fluff and love.

“For now Spike, as troublesome as it might be, we keep her indoors, here, with us, keep other ponies away, find out all that we can, observe her behaviour, treat her with decency, and we wait. Princess Celestia has the message, she’ll know what to do, and Princess Cadance will be informed that we need to see her right away. When Princess Cadance comes, we spring the big pink nightmare on her and Adora Belle gets to see her Mommy. If that is indeed the case.” Twilight Sparkle suffered a strange sensation as she said the words ‘Adora Belle’ and had trouble placing her hoof on what it was that she was feeling.

“Twilight?”

“Yes Spike?”

“I’m going to go see the others and give them a little warning about all of this. It feels right,” Spike said in a low voice.

“Okay Spike, that’s a good idea. Tell them all that I said hi and that this isn’t anything to worry about.”

“Twilight, that feels like lying.” Spike shook his head.

“Then just tell them that I said hi and that we shouldn’t be panicking just yet.”

“Okay.”

Hunched over a book, Twilight Sparkle was reading a treatise on the effects of time travel, a tome written by none other than Star Swirl the Bearded. Whatever went through time was always pulled back to its point of origin. Twilight Sparkle had experienced this herself. The feeling, the pull, it was irresistible. Star Swirl suspected that it was impossible for time travel to impact or otherwise change the future, because the time travel was accounted for in the time stream. Twilight Sparkle had experienced that for herself. No amount of avoidance could change the outcome.

Twilight’s ears perked at the sounds of heavy breathing and she almost had a seat wetting moment as she realised that there was a large, pink, fluffy draconequus floating mere inches from her side, just out of her field of vision. As she turned her head, she saw hundreds of triangular teeth. She stifled a scream by jamming a hoof in her mouth.

“Auntie, I had a bad dream. I’m scared.” Adora flopped over, crashing to the floor, and stuck her thumb-talon into her mouth. She lay beside Twilight, her eyes closed, her long tail twitching. “I don’t have my stuffy. She got left behind.”

Heart racing, blood pounding in her ears, Twilight Sparkle took a deep breath. “I’m sorry Adora… could you please make some noise when you come up on a pony?” The hoof that had been in Twilight’s mouth was now clutched over her heart. Twilight waited, but there was no reply from Adora.

Reaching down, Twilight patted the big foalish draconequus on the head. “Adora, darling, how old are you? Should you be sucking on your thumb?”

There was a pop as Adora pulled her thumb out, opened her eyes, and looked up at Twilight Sparkle. “I’m one hundred and twenty one years old.”

Twilight Sparkle had no frame of reference. She had no clue if that was old or young. Discord might know, but his current whereabouts were unknown. Princess Celestia was thousands of years old and so was Princess Luna.

“Want some cookies and chocolate milk now?” Twilight asked.

Adora nodded.

“Just out of curiousity, can you conjure up cookies and chocolate milk?” Twilight asked, filled with a desire to know more. This was potentially a good chance to study a draconequus. A passive, loving, gentle draconequus that was beholden to Twilight and would answer her questions.

Again, Adora nodded.

Twilight’s brain kicked into a thoughtful mode. “So what keeps you from conjuring yourself some cookies and chocolate milk right now?”

Adora squirmed, blinked, and then pointed at Twilight with one talon-finger. “You.”

“Me?” Twilight had trouble imagining that she would tell Adora not to summon something that would fulfill a basic need.

“You told me not to conjure all the food I wanted.” Adora coiled up into a tight, fluffy ball of pink. “You caught me conjuring cookies one day and giving them away. You told me it was wrong.”

“I did?” Twilight’s feeling of confusion was growing now.

“You said with every cookie I conjured, I took away purpose from a pony. If I filled the world with all the cookies that everypony ever wanted to eat, and nopony ever needed to make cookies again, then there would be a lot of ponies with baking cutie marks whose destinies would be unfulfilled and I would be hurting them. I don’t want to hurt nopony, ever. That would be wrong.”

Twilight had to struggle to remain seated and not fall to the floor. Older Future Twilight seemed pretty wise. She could see Adora’s eyes were watering and she felt a tugging in her heart.

“You said you would be very disappointed in me if I ever hurt a pony or though my inaction caused one to come to harm.” Adora looked up at Twilight, reached out with her dog leg, and grabbed Twilight by the fetlock.

“I guess I taught you this because I was your tutor,” Twilight Sparkle said. As she spoke, she saw Adora nodding. “Well, you are a good foal. You took a nap and you’ve been very well behaved. Follow me into the kitchen and I’ll see what I can do about getting you something to eat, okay?”

“Okay Auntie Twilight!”

Author's Note

Twilight is learning lessons from her future self.

Chapter 3

Watching Adora eat, Twilight Sparkle felt a tickle on her nose. She reached up, rubbed her nose with her hoof, and tried to make the tickle go away. She almost sneezed and she squeezed her eyes shut as she held everything in. After what felt like a short slice of forever, the sneezy feeling went away and Twilight opened her eyes.

Adora, well mannered, was still eating cookies and sipping at her milk when Twilight opened her eyes. The draconequus foal appeared to be a fastidious eater. Adora had better manners than Spike, something that Twilight would never say aloud. Twilight began to wonder what a nutritious meal for Adora might be and realised that she had no clue about the diet of the draconequus, other than they were known to eat books.

“Adora, what do you eat?” Twilight prepared her mind for a possible deluge of information and committing it all to memory. Twilight, eager for knowledge, waited for an answer. Adora was chewing and it seemed that the foal didn’t want to talk with her mouth full.

Swallowing, Adora turned to look at Twilight. She smiled. “Anything.” Adora sipped some of her chocolate milk, slurping it through a straw, swallowed, and then began to nibble on the edge of a cookie that was far too small for such a large creature.

Twilight Sparkle realised that she was going to need bigger cookies. Compelled by a need to know more, Twilight asked, “Anything?” She watched as Adora finished her bite and gulped it down.

“Anything. I once ate part of Mommy’s castle. She was upset and I got scolded. She stood me in the corner. Spike too. We were hungry.” Adora returned to eating her cookies.

Note to self, teeth are capable of biting through almost anything, very much like a dragon. Twilight shivered, unable to help herself. It wasn’t that Adora had teeth like a shark, it was that she had multiple rows of teeth like a shark.

“Well, I feed Spike a healthy diet of gems and other foods… I guess you and Spike can share gems. I think that Spike might like having somepony to talk to about how gems taste.” Twilight felt a growing sense of unease, a dreadful feeling of nervousness that gnawed at the back of her mind, very much in the same way that Adora was gnawing upon a cookie.

The growing feeling of unease was now almost unbearable. Twilight, now a nervous wreck, needed to find some way of sorting all of this out. She needed truth. She needed evidence. She needed to know the hows and the whys of this whole situation.

She glanced over at Adora, who was curled up on a pile of cushions, reading a book for ‘school time.’ The announcement of school time had made the draconequus overjoyed. Twilight had given Adora a book that contained the friendship reports that Twilight had sent to Princess Celestia, the very friendship reports that had made Twilight a princess.

Content that Adora was settled in and satisfied, Twilight turned away and headed off to her study. She had to find some way of discerning the truth. She wanted to believe Adora, but Twilight’s own natural skepticism was working against her. As she walked to her study, she wondered if Spike had a return message yet. She reasoned that Spike did not have a return message, because he would have come running home if there was one. Which meant that Celestia was now aware of this situation and was now trying to sort it out. Perhaps.

The best place to start would be a detailed study of time travel, and then try to begin to establish some controls. Twilight wondered why she hadn’t gone back in time to tell herself the truth about this issue. It struck her as being a rather good idea. She froze in place and made a mental note that she needed to come back in time and explain things to herself to clear up all of this confusion. Twilight Sparkle smiled. There, that should fix everything, she thought to herself. I should be showing up any minute now…

Twilight waited, but no sign of her future self arrived. Disappointed, confused, Twilight tried to sort out what had gone wrong. She had made a mental note. Perhaps she had forgot? She frowned, knowing her own habits, and felt a bit of worry. She hurried off to her study to find her long term to-do list and write down a reminder that she needed to come back in time and clear things up right away.

Sitting in her study, Twilight waited for her future self to arrive, feeling very cross with herself. When she finally arrived, Twilight Sparkle was going to give herself a good lecture. A lecture with lots of strong words. She felt betrayed by her future self, knowing the importance of this issue, and she felt that it was very rude that she had not responded.

There had to be some reason why she had not responded. Horn glowing, Twilight began conjuring up as many books as she could about the subject of time travel. There was a mystery here, something she was missing, and Twilight was determined to figure out what was going on.

Maybe her future self was incapable of coming back. Had she killed herself to open the portal? Adora had mentioned that the world was ending. Twilight’s lips pressed into a straight line. She thought about how she had felt when she had all of the power of the different alicorns and her battle with Tirek. She had trouble containing that much power. It had been problematic to say the least. She wondered if she could contain all of Discord’s power and hold everything together. Was she capable of such a thing?

If Adora was now part of the past, how was the future changing? If the future changed enough, would Adora cease to exist? What if Discord and Cadance, upon hearing about their shared future, changed their future together… never loving each other, thus never bringing Adora into existence. Would Adora just fade away? The thought made Twilight feel sick. She now began to worry about sending a message to Princess Celestia. Maybe it would have been better to hide Adora away.

But Adora would want her mother. Adora wanted her mother even now. It wouldn’t be fair to Adora to hide her away and keep her away from Cadance, trying to preserve the future somehow. Twilight shook her head and moaned, feeling crushed by her own thoughts, she wasn’t certain she could face the future she might have just destroyed. Perhaps she should have taken more time to think about this before telling Celestia all about it. Adora would want her father too… Twilight began to worry if Discord would want anything to do with Adora.

“No… everything has become a mess… what do I do?”

Twilight looked around her study as if looking for answers. There were no answers. There was only a growing sense of fear and doubt. Panic and doubt brought along fear and loathing for the ride and Twilight began to feel her emotions slipping away from her control.

Twilight Sparkle decided she needed a practical hoofs on experiment. She brought Star Swirl’s spell to the forefront of her memory and began to make herself ready to cast it. She paused, realising how much energy it took, and thought better of it. Using her telekinesis, she plucked a single hair from her mane, placed it upon the floor, and began her preparations to cast the time travel spell in earnest upon the purple hair.

With a crackling zap, the hair vanished and Twilight sent the hair back to when Adora had been eating cookies, and Twilight had been in the kitchen. Twilight waited, wondering what was about to happen. She held her breath, filled with anticipation—

And then, in a moment of clarity, she remembered the tickling of her nose and the powerful need to sneeze. Something had tickled her nose and had made her want to sneeze. It had to be the hair! A second later, a purple hair popped into existence and floated down to the floor.

There was a bright flash of light and then Twilight Sparkle saw herself. Remembering what had happened the last time, when she had interrupted herself, being rude to herself, Twilight Sparkle remained silent, her hoof clamped over her mouth.

“This is a test. This is only a test. Five minutes from now, you are going to send yourself back in time. I want you to try and resist doing it to see what happens. Try to force yourself to not cast this spell. I know it is paradoxical, because right now, you can see that you failed, but try any—”

Future Twilight Sparkle vanished in a brilliant burst of light and was gone, leaving Twilight Sparkle all alone with herself. Twilight Sparkle tried to piece together her own thoughts. This was paradoxical. What if she tried to resist sending herself back in time? If she succeeded, there would be no Twilight coming back in time to tell herself this.

The room exploded into a brilliant white light and then there were at least two dozen Twilight Sparkles all staring at present Twilight. Twilight blinked, surprised to see so many of herself.

“Guard your mind and be careful what you think!” all of the Twilight’s said together. “Your thoughts determine the future! Oh bother, there is no way to stop this from happening!”

The two dozen Twilight’s all exploded into blinding flashes of light, leaving present Twilight Sparkle all alone with herself once again.

Once again, Twilight’s study was filled with blinding light. “I broke something! I’m sorry Twilight, but trust me, I have to do this to you. You tried a little too hard to resist going back in time, and now I need to fix things, I’m sorry!” Future Twilight’s horn glowed brightly and Twilight Sparkle felt herself being consumed by magic.

With a gasp, Twilight found herself in her study, a strange feeling of missing some time, and the most peculiar memory. She had sent herself back in time and she had seen herself back in time, just five minutes or so ago, and she had tried to tell herself the following:

Only she had been unable to finish the word ‘anyway’ and had been cut off.

Feeling very confused, Twilight Sparkle tried to put the pieces together. Something had happened. She had broken something perhaps? To fix it, she had sent herself back in time and she had delivered to herself her first warning about this being a test. How did she know what to say? Er, how had she known what to say?

“Auntie Twily?”

Twilight’s thoughts came to a screeching halt. She looked at the vibrant pink draconequus in the doorway. Adora looked sad and rather droopy. It was heart wrenching to look at. Twilight rose and headed towards Adora.

“I miss my Mommy.” Adora whumpled forwards, tackled Twilight, and began to coil around her like a nightmarish pink boa constrictor. “I’m lonely.”

“I’m sorry. Try to be patient. Cadance will be coming soon, I’m sure,” Twilight said to Adora, her worry about the future growing ever stronger. It felt nice being hugged by Adora. Something about it was calming, soothing. Gravity had vanished and Twilight was floating in Adora’s embrace. She wrapped her forelegs around Adora’s long neck. Twilight wasn’t certain where Adora’s neck ended and her body began.

“I’m scared,” Adora whispered.

“Why are you scared?” Twilight asked.

“Because my Auntie is scared… and that scares me because my Auntie isn’t afraid of anything,” Adora replied.

Reaching out with her hoof, Twilight touched Adora’s cheek and watched as the foal closed her eyes, revelling in Twilight’s tender touch, soaking up Twilight’s affection the same way flowers and greenery soaked up rain. “There is so much I don’t understand. It scares me. I’m sorry. I’ll try to be a little braver for you, okay?”

“Okay,” Adora replied as she snuggled closer, wrapping tighter around Twilight.

Author's Note

Not all instances of time travel in this fic will be pointed out. Some of them you will have to figure out for yourself. The rules have now been established. Watch out for sneezy moments!

Chapter 4

The doorbell chimed, letting Twilight know that somepony was at the door. Almost panicking, Twilight looked up from the book she had been reading to Adora, her eyes meeting with Adora’s for a moment, and then looking off at the wall, almost as if she could look through the wall somehow and see the front door that was beyond it.

“Adora, I need for you to stay right here in this room. Right here,” Twilight said as she tapped her hoof upon the floor. “I need to go answer the door and I don’t want anypony getting scared. So stay here, out of sight.”

Blinking, Adora replied, “Okay.” There was a flash of pink light and Adora became an enormous pink sofa with mismatched cushions and fabrics. Plaids, polka dots, stripes, along with fuzzy, shaggy bits and smooth silky places.

It was the sort of sofa that might haunt Rarity in her nightmares. Twilight Sparkle cringed as she got up to go and answer the door. A draconequus simply did not make for good furniture.

Twilight’s hooves made loud ringing sounds upon the floor of the crystal castle. She hated this place just a little bit sometimes. It was large, cold, drafty, and empty. She missed the warmth and living wood of the old library tree. She trotted down the hall towards the double doors, hurrying when she heard the chime once more, wondering who it might be.

Reaching the doors, Twilight paused, closed her eyes, drew in a deep breath, and prepared herself. She opened her eyes, took another deep breath, unlocked the door, and then pulled it open as she plastered a ‘no, no, there is absolutely nothing wrong’ smile upon her face.

Standing in the doorway was one small purple dragon and one yellow pegasus. Twilight Sparkle, for whatever reason, had to repress the urge to scream at the top of her lungs when she saw Fluttershy.

“Spike told me a little bit about what is going on. I came to help,” Fluttershy said in an unassuming near-whisper to Twilight. “I have experience in foalsitting, I looked after the Cutie Mark Crusaders.”

Panicking, Twilight Sparkle grabbed both Spike as well as Fluttershy in a magenta aura and yanked them inside, pulled the double doors shut, and double locked the double locks.

Fluttershy let out a very polite sounding petite scream when the pink sofa became something else. She almost fainted, but there was a blinding pink blur that shot across the room and caught her before she could hit the hard stone floor.

Twilight thought about Adora’s rules, not allowing a pony to come to harm. A draconequus was believed to be a dangerous, unpredictable creature. While Adora seemed a little exuberant, she also seemed good hearted, kind, and gentle. Twilight watched as Adora hugged Fluttershy, feeling a vague sense of ambiguous worry. Fluttershy was already warming up to the fuzzy pink nightmare.

Thoughtful, Twilight Sparkle watched as Adora and Fluttershy continued to warm up to one another. She thought about Adora’s rules and the things that Twilight from the future had taught her, such as the rules about conjuration. Adora was one hundred and twenty one years old. Twilight Sparkle contemplated Adora’s maturity, feeling a strong need to question Discord about this.

As all of this lingered in her mind, Twilight suffered a terrible realisation that made her blood run cold, a dark thought that she tried to push away from her mind right away. What if Adora was more of a mature adult than a foal? And what if she had been treated and kept more as a foal to keep her manageable? What if she was babied so she would be perceived as less of a threat? Twilight Sparkle struggled to push the thoughts from her mind.

“Oh, you are precious,” Fluttershy said as she and Adora rubbed cheeks together.

“I heard stories about you from Daddy.” Adora wrapped her forelegs around Fluttershy and curled her body around the pegasus. “You were his best friend… his only friend for a long, long time. Daddy said you taught him how to think of somepony other than himself.”

Jolted from her thoughts, Twilight Sparkle’s ears pitched forwards when she heard Adora’s words. A lingering feeling of paranoia remained in Twilight Sparkle’s mind and her dark thoughts would not go away, not entirely.

“Because of you, Daddy said he understood how to raise me so I’d be a good draconequus foal.” Adora snuggled her head against Fluttershy’s neck. “I like being a good draconequus foal. I want to be a good foal forever.”

Twilight’s eyes narrowed as she listened. This was coincidental, nothing more. She had thought about Adora’s rearing, and now she was hearing something that she could construe as supporting her assumption, except that this was all coincidence. None of this was fitting to draw conclusions from. This was maddening. Twilight Sparkle could feel the pressure building. It was just foal-talk, nothing more. The corner of Twilight’s eye twitched.

“I think I’ll go look after Spike and see what he’s up to,” Twilight Sparkle said to Fluttershy in a low, wavering, ‘I’m under an incredible amount of stress’ voice.

“Nachos?” Twilight Sparkle stared at the mountain of nachos that was taking shape. Spike used his fire to melt cheese and toast the tortilla chips. “Why so many nachos?”

“Have you seen how big Adora is?” Spike, annoyed, squinted at Twilight. “Do you think a few cookies can keep her satisfied? The only reason she hasn’t complained about being hungry is because of her desire to be good.”

Twilight jerked her head back, her eyes going wide. Could that be true? She stared at Spike, watching as he added a dollop of refried beans to a spot where the chips looked a little bare. She watched as Spike added salsa in a basin shaped out of refried beans. It protected the chips from getting soggy by keeping the liquid salsa away from them.

“I have ideas Spike…” Twilight, feeling antsy, changed the subject. “I think I can do a few tests with hair. I have sent my own hair back in time and when Discord arrives, I plan to send his hair back in time to see what happens and then I will send Adora’s. Discord will make for a good control. Who knows what will happen if you send draconequus hair back in time...”

“Hmm.” Spike, leaning over his creation, made only the barest sort of non-committal reply as he added a bit more cheese. He let out a puff of fire to melt the cheese and make it crusty.

“Spike, you don’t seem interested,” Twilight Sparkle said.

“Twilight, I’m more interested in Adora. Making her feel welcome. Making her feel at home.” Spike lifted his head, turning away from his work, and looked at Twilight. “When I was out telling the others, all I could think about was how much poor Adora must be missing her parents and how hard this must be for her.”

The corner of Twilight Sparkle’s eye twitched again, and she felt her cheek convulsing, tugging at the corner of her mouth. Something about Spike’s words bothered her, but she couldn’t say what or why. “I’m worried about her too, Spike… I just feel that we should also be trying to learn as much as we can.”

“Adora is a big noodly draconequus made of love… that’s all I need to know,” Spike said to Twilight, returning to his work. “Why make things complicated?”

“Because… well, because… Spike… um, well, there are a lot of unknowns, Spike,” Twilight stammered. Her eyes narrowed. “Spike, you were the one wondering if Discord was pranking us. You had questions. You were the one wondering if she was telling the truth—”

“And none of that matters to me now,” Spike said as he raised his claws and waved them around. “I can’t explain it, Twilight. I’m her friend. In the future, I am somepony that she loves. I… I… Twilight there are some weird feelings and I can’t put them into words!”

Spike, looking distressed, rubbed his stomach, his cheeks bulged, and then he belched. A scroll appeared, arced through the air, bounced on the table, almost hit the nachos, then rolled over the table’s edge, and fell down to the floor.

Twilight Sparkle stared at Spike for what felt like several minutes, not knowing what to say, until at last she was overcome by curiousity. She lifted up the scroll, broke the seal, and opened it up.

Spike, standing on a chair, staring at his leaning tower of nachos, rubbed his stomach and then turned his head to look at Twilight. “What does it say?”

“It says to keep Adora secured in my castle and to wait for further instructions,” Twilight replied in a disappointed voice. She sighed. She had expected something else, she wasn’t sure what, but some kind of meaningful instructions. Some means to make this situation better. Some sense of direction.

Spike groaned and his eyes narrowed. “See, this is what is bothering me. No word on keeping Adora happy, no instructions on caring for her, just… keeping her a prisoner—”

“Spike, she’s not a prisoner,” Twilight said.

“She can’t leave though. She can’t go outside and play… This bothers me… I don’t like this.” Spike flopped down in the chair he was standing in, sitting down with a thump.

“Spike, what is bothering you exactly?” Twilight Sparkle asked.

“She’s a draconequus… I’m a dragon… what if I was in Adora’s place and I was sent back in time and I asked you for help, but you didn’t know me… would I be studied? Made a prisoner? What if I loved you so much, but you, you were suspicious of me?” Spike shook his head. “I don’t feel hungry. See that Adora eats. I’m going to my room and I don’t want to be bothered.”

“Spike… wait…” Twilight said as Spike lept down from his chair. She watched as the little dragon waddled away, leaving behind a steaming tower of nachos.

“Love is never a mistake, Twilight… Adora loves us. Me… and you. Even if we don’t know her, she deserves better from us,” Spike said as he walked away, his clawed feet scraping over the floor.

“Spike, please—”

“I need some time to myself… some time to think. I’ll be out later to spend time with our prisoner,” Spike said, refusing to turn back and look at Twilight.

Twilight, now alone, had no idea how to deal with this situation. It seemed to be becoming more and more complicated. She stared at the nachos, thought about Adora, and wondered what she might do to make Spike feel better.

“Oh my… look at her eat… nature is so fascinating,” Fluttershy said as Adora nibbled nachos. “She kind of eats like a bird. Or maybe a lizard.”

Twilight grunted in reply, lost in her own thoughts. She was hunched over the table and she ate the occasional nacho herself. She was hungry, but she didn’t feel like eating. Somehow, Adora was eating messy nachos and she hadn’t done as much as get a single glob of cheese dribbled on her pelt.

There was a lot that Twilight wanted to talk about, concerns that she wanted to give voice to, but she couldn’t talk to Fluttershy with Adora in the room eating. How might Princess Cadance react to all of this? She wanted Fluttershy’s opinion on how Discord might respond to this. She wanted to talk about her own growing worry on how her big brother, best friend forever Shining Armor might take the news.

But Twilight Sparkle remained silent, not wanting to upset Adora.

“Such a well behaved little draconequus… who’s a good draconequus?” Fluttershy asked in a cooing voice. “You’re so kind, gentle, and sweet… your parents loved you and I can see why.”

“Can I call you ‘Auntie’ or would it bother you?” Adora asked after she swallowed her mouthful of nachos.

“Oh!” Fluttershy’s face turned pink and she clapped her front hooves together. “I’d like that. I think you could use another aunt… oh thank you!”

Twilight, watching this exchange, did not know how to feel about it.

Author's Note

Next chapter... next chapter gets complicated. Really, really complicated. I hope I am up for it. :raritydespair:

Chapter 5

Pacing, worried, Twilight Sparkle considered her course of action. The library castle was now quiet; Fluttershy was gone, both Spike and Adora were now sleeping on a big pile of cushions together, leaving Twilight Sparkle all alone with herself.

A single strand of long pink hair. Twilight Sparkle had found it after Adora had shed it. The hair was laying upon the floor. It held a faint, strange, odd magical signature. Twilight Sparkle could not help but wonder about the magical properties of draconequus hair.

Curious, Twilight wondered if she sent this hair back in time, would it come back? Would something strange happen? She began to think a curious thought; if she sent it back in time, why wasn’t Twilight seeing it now or observing something strange? Twilight, pacing through the halls, peered around in the dim light cast by her horn, looking for strange phenomenon, wondering what her future self was doing.

Entering her study, Twilight Sparkle lit the many candles contained therein with a flick of her magic. She found that she much prefered candlelight, a trait that she shared with Princess Luna. Candlelight, soft, warm, was great for setting the right kind of mood for thinking.

Twilight Sparkle held up the long strand of pink hair before her and her eyes narrowed as she studied it. It shimmered in the glow of her magic. She set the hair down, releasing it from her telekinesis, placing it upon a silver tray that had once been used for holding tea cakes, but was now used to hold samples.

Princess Mi Adora Cadenza. Twilight wondered what Adora had done to deserve princesshood. Was it an inherited title? That seemed unlikely. A title of affection? Possible, but Twilight believed it also to be unlikely. The title, and all that came with it, was far too serious to be taken lightly. Twilight made a mental note to ask Adora about it to see if the draconequus knew anything.

Pressing her lips into a straight line, Twilight Sparkle concentrated upon the long pink hair, and began casting spells to help discern its nature. The hair glowed with an eerie light and Twilight Sparkle’s eyes narrowed as the brilliance surrounding the hair intensified.

The hair bore an odd magical signature that was remarkably similar to Cadance’s magic. Twilight, determined to never be fooled by changelings again, had made extensive studies into magical signatures and believed her magic to be quite accurate. Cadance’s magic radiated love—an obvious outcome that should shock nopony. It was distinctive, unique, and had a few well defined characteristics. It was a magic defined by dedication, devotion, and duty. It was a magic that had discipline, for lack of a better word, according to Twilight Sparkle’s thinking.

Adora’s hair bore a magical signature that was also strong with love, but it was chaotic. It felt more random, almost crazy, like the bizarre heady affection that one feels during their first crush. The unpredictable and sometimes panic inducing feeling of love at first sight. The manic desperation of unrequited love. Adora’s magical signature held far more emotion than Cadance’s.

Lifting her head, Twilight dismissed all of this. This was not proof that Adora was Cadance’s offspring; this only meant that Adora was a draconequus filled with chaotic and unpredictable love. It proved nothing, but it did raise a few interesting questions.

Were there types of love that were not harmonious?

Summoning more magic, Twilight Sparkle made ready to send the hair back in time. Her horn glowed like the sun and she closed her eyes. A few feet away, there was a bright flash of magenta magic, then there was a loud crackle, followed by a pop. The silver tray flew from the table and clattered to the floor. Twilight Sparkle tumbled to the floor with a thump as a tall figure loomed over her.

“You idiot… you just can’t leave anything alone!” The tall figure stared down at the small crumpled body upon the floor. “You have to poke your nose into everything! EVERYTHING!”

The tall figure circled around the small, limp body on the floor, shaking its head. “Some things, you just have to accept at face value. Not everything can be measured or studied! You took love, something beautiful, and reduced it all into chemistry, stealing away the mystery and the beauty!” The tall figure snorted. “It all started in this room… you created the beginning of the end.” The tall figure lifted up its front hoof, pulled back, and stood over the smaller figure, looking as though it was going to deliver a kick to the small purple pony’s backside.

“Twilight?”

“Spike!”

Spike, clutching his own tail, looked up at Twilight Sparkle and then down at the other Twilight Sparkle laying upon the floor. His eyes darted back to the other Twilight. She was tall, just as big as Princess Celestia. Her mane and tail flowed in ethereal winds, billowing in some invisible, unseen force. Twilight’s eyes were crazed; they had turned yellow and red—reminding Spike of a certain draconequus.

“Twilight,” Spike said, tugging his tail and backing away from Twilight Sparkle’s tall, imposing form. “I heard a noise and it woke me up…”

“Spike… you’re so small…” Twilight Sparkle took a step towards Spike, stepping over her comatose body. “I had forgotten how small you used to be.”

“I don’t understand what is going on… are you going to hurt me?” Spike asked.

“I would never hurt you… I know this looks bad.” Twilight turned her head and gestured at her own body on the floor. “I had to stop her. But you seeing me complicates things.”

“I won’t say a word, I promise!” Spike continued to back up and bumped into the wall. He yelped, began shaking, and looked up at Twilight.

“I was always able to trust my Number One Assistant.” Twilight lowered her head as she approached. She blinked away a few tears. “Spike… I need your help.”

“Anything for you, Twilight,” Spike said, wringing his tail in his hands, his claws squeaking against his scales. “I’ll Pinkie Pie swear… I’ll do whatever you ask—”

“Spike, calm down.” Twilight said in a soft voice.

“Okay.” Spike took a deep breath, swallowed, and peered up at Twilight, who seemed much larger now that she was up close.

“I can’t tell you everything Spike… but I suppose I can tell you a little to help you understand what is going on. I ruined everything Spike… I made a terrible mistake. Other things happened too, but I am the most direct cause of everything that happened. And it all started right about now, at this time, not long after I became the Princess of Friendship. I can trace it all back to now.”

“Twi?” Spike whispered in a fearful voice.

“Spike, I need for you to distract me as much as possible. Be demanding. Be needy. Say you need me… do whatever it is that you need to do—”

“But why, Twilight?” Spike asked.

Twilight Sparkle lifted her head and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath, held it, and then let it out as she spoke. “Spike, I need to learn to accept some things on faith. I need to know that I can’t know everything. I need to learn to let go and let some things just happen.”

“I don’t understand.” Spike shook his head and continued to tug his tail.

“Spike, everything is gone. Everything… I’m trying to fix it. I sent Adora back to completely destroy the timeline… it wasn’t enough to disrupt it, I tried that, it failed, I kept making the future worse. But by sending Adora back in time, I ripped my future away from this timeline… but there are complications, Spike.”

“I don’t understand…” Spike looked up at Twilight, blinked, and then sat down upon the floor with a plop.

“Every time that she tries to study Adora, or tries to figure this out, she creates a connection to the future that I come from. Those connections multiply and gain strength, and she pulls the future I am trying to prevent back into the timeline, reinforcing the behaviour that caused all of this in the first place.” Twilight Sparkle pointed at her unconscious form with a wing. “Already today I had to go back in time, make a few corrections, and erase a portion of her memory… we had a terrible argument she and I, and she refused to see reason. She refused to be logical. She refused to take my word that this all leads up to a bad end. So I had to drop her and scrub away the entire encounter that we had earlier today from her mind.”

“This is really confusing.” Spike’s voice was a low whine. “Twilight, you look so different… you’re so big.” Spike swallowed and then his voice dropped into a low, scratchy whisper. “Is Discord dead?”

“Spike, I am all that is left in that future. Discord died after he gave not just his powers to me, but his life force. Without Adora or Discord, Cadance grew weaker and weaker… she gave me her powers and told me to fix it if I could… and then slipped away. I held her as she went.”

“Princess Celestia and Princess Luna?” Spike asked, feeling a growing lump in his throat and blinking away tears.

“Spike, everypony is gone… there is only me, a sea of darkness, and an all consuming nothingness that I contributed to creating,” Twilight replied. “Even you… you’re gone… and I miss you so much.” Twilight’s horn ignited and she lifted Spike up, holding him up to eye level. Extending her wings, she drew Spike into a hug.

“I will do whatever I can to help,” Spike promised in a raspy, emotional whisper.

“Look after Adora. She was loved and adored by all. She is not bound by the natural laws that surround harmony. She is a primal, chaotic force of nature, the very essence of the biological urge to create more life. She inherited some of Cadance’s power and influence.” Twilight Sparkle held Spike close, pressing him to her neck. “I couldn’t stop the future, but I could sever the timeline. Now I need to keep the timeline from self correcting or being mended as harmony attempts to re-assert its will.”

“What happens to you?” Spike asked.

“I don’t know.” Twilight held Spike a little closer, crushing him to her. “I suppose if we are successful, and I learn to leave some things be, I’ll just wink out of existence when the future I am a part of collapses in upon itself.”

“I don’t want that!” Spike cried.

“It needs to happen. I sacrificed everything to change the future. I don’t want to exist forever in the darkness… and there is no way I can come back here,” Twilight said to Spike. “Keep me distracted Spike. Ask me questions. Be a silly dragon. Get me to play with Adora. I’ll keep doing what I can to sever new connections when they happen. Hopefully, I’ll give up before I have to take drastic measures.”

“Drastic measures?” Spike looked at Twilight, fearful.

“Better that you don’t know. I don’t think it will come to that, if it makes you feel any better.” Twilight gave Spike a sad smile. Seeing Spike’s worried face, Twilight reconsidered. “Spike, if this gets bad enough, I have the idea to send Adora further back. Perhaps even to a time when I am not yet the Princess of Friendship. I sent her here to this time, because it felt right… this was where I came into my own and everything started to go wrong.”

“I still don’t understand.” Spike reached up and wiped his eyes with his clenched fists.

“Spike… from the moment Adora was born, you loved her. You doted on her, spoiled her, for a long time, she was your world. I even started getting jealous because you just ignored me… and she loves you. Can you trust in that?” Twilight Sparkle set Spike down upon the floor.

“Yeah.” Spike, unsteady on his feet, wobbled a bit as he stared up at Twilight.

“Okay Spike… when I wake up, which will be soon, I need you to lecture me about using dangerous magic… I’m going to be missing some time… I need you to scold me about using dangerous magic and putting Adora and you at risk… say that you were woke up by a big explosion.”

“Explosion?” Spike’s eyes narrowed and he looked around the study.

Future Twilight’s horn flared. The doors slammed shut, but did so in perfect silence. The entire room glowed in a magenta light. There was a sudden explosion, singing papers, books, everything exposed, including the Twilight Sparkle comatose upon the floor, burning away patches of hair and some of her mane. She smouldered and smoke rose from her body.

“She’s fine. It looks much worse than it really is,” Twilight said in a reassuring voice. “So, there was a big explosion and it woke you up and you’re really, really scared because I am being irresponsible. Make certain you tell me that.”

“Okay.” Spike nodded.

“I love you Spike,” Twilight Sparkle said.

Spike blushed. “I love you too… any other advice from the future?”

Twilight heaved a sigh and then gave Spike a weary smile. “Don’t ever give up on Rarity. She is going to make some bad decisions. It is going to hurt you. But it will all be worth it in the end.”

Spike smiled, but still looked a little fearful. “Maybe now that the future is changing, I can show Rarity how responsible I am by taking care of Adora.”

“Spike, that is a brilliant idea… I gotta go, Spike… I love you…”

Author's Note

Next chapter... a family gathering.

Chapter 6

Out of sorts, Twilight Sparkle paced the halls of her crystal castle. She was missing a large amount of time after her experiments last night. Spike had lectured her for being irresponsible. Spike of all ponies… er, dragons, had lectured her. Something had exploded; Twilight had no memory of it but she had missing patches of hair all over her body and she was sore all over.

Princess Celestia had sent a message that Princess Cadance was coming and would arrive today. Twilight Sparkle was beginning to feel concern; Princess Celestia had made no effort to come and investigate this issue herself. Something about that felt off to Twilight. There was now a second known draconequus and Princess Celestia had done nothing to discern if Adora Belle was dangerous.

Spike, for whatever reason, was being super-helpful and was now taking care of Adora, something that caused no end of happiness for Adora. She had followed Spike around all morning, a terrible, nightmarish, toothy grin upon her face. Meanwhile, Twilight, her mind occupied with a million different questions, had been unable to do anything but pace around her castle.

“Adora, Princess Cadance is coming… I know that you will be very happy to see her, but I need for you to understand that… she doesn’t know you. She is probably going to be very surprised to see you and she might not know how to respond to you,” Twilight said to Adora in a voice filled with worry. Twilight, her left eyelid twitching, was ready to melt into a hot, frothy, neurotic mess.

“Mommy will love me,” Adora replied, sounding a bit miffed. “Mommy says she will always love me and has always loved me. She’ll love me now.” The draconequus’ lip protruded in a pout and she gave Twilight Sparkle a sour, petulant stare.

Spike, uncertain of his own opinion on the matter, glanced at Twilight and then turned to Adora. Twilight Sparkle looked as though she was about to have another Smarty Pants incident. He grabbed his tail and began to squeeze it in his claws.

“Adora, you haven’t been born yet… Princess Cadance might need a little bit of time to get to know you,” Twilight said in a quavering voice. Twilight’s ear twitched in time with her eyelid, moving in a staccato rhythm.

“Adora, everything will be fine.” Spike let go of his tail and stepped towards the draconequus. “You’re going to get a chance to meet Shining Armor. He’s a very nice pony.”

Hearing the words, ‘Shining Armor,’ Adora flung herself down to the floor and let out an impatient huff. “I wish they would hurry up. I’m tired of waiting.” Extending her long tail, Adora grabbed Spike around the middle, pulled him close, and then hugged him, almost as if he was a toy.

Feeling her stomach gurgle, Twilight Sparkle’s nerves continued to disintegrate. She hadn’t eaten very well this morning. How was her brother going to deal with all of this? Twilight didn’t know. Shining Armor was a kind, patient sort of pony. Twilight, knowing her brother, reasoned that Shining Armor would probably be the one who would deal with this the best. Cadance on the other hoof, Twilight was worried about Cadance, mostly because no matter how many times she played the scenario out in her mind, she could not figure out what Cadance’s reaction might be. Not knowing was pushing Twilight Sparkle to the very brink of a nervous breakdown. Adora had endured tragic circumstances and Twilight did not want her to suffer any further harm.

Twilight watched as Adora pulled and tugged on Spike’s face, causing the dragon to make some very silly expressions. It warmed Twilight’s heart to watch Adora and Spike playing. She saw Spike stick out his tongue and cross his eyes as Adora stretched out his cheeks by hooking her claws into the corners of his mouth. Adora was gentle; so much so that it was almost surprising. For a creature that acted so foalish, Adora was mindful of all the dangerous parts of her body. She also had a face that appeared to be made out of rubber.

When the first knock hit the door, Twilight froze, fearing some impending disaster. She looked at Adora, wide eyed, wondering what the foalish draconequus was feeling right now at this moment. Adora was coiled around Spike, her eyes were wide, and the tip of her tail was twitching.

Twilight stared at her own front door, dumbfounded and unable to move. Twilight found her legs rooted to the floor, almost as if some strange, unknown force had sealed her into place, not allowing her to move.

The door began to open; Twilight could not recall unlocking it. There was a flash of pink and a majestic looking head poked its way inside. Twilight felt her heart leap up into her throat when she saw Cadance. There was a shout as Cadance stepped inside, followed by a pink blur as something went rocketing past Twilight at Rainbow Dash speeds.

“Mommy!” Adora plowed into Cadance, running at full tilt.

Twilight cringed, not knowing if she could keep looking, not knowing what was about to happen. She saw Adora looping around Cadance. She heard Cadance gasp; Twilight could not discern Cadance’s mood. Adora was kissing Cadance now… and Cadance… was kissing Adora? Twilight, still rooted to the floor, watched in utter confusion. This was not the reaction that Twilight had imagined in any of her well thought out scenarios.

“Mommy has you, be gentle Adora, there you go… Mommy loves you.”

Flummoxed, Twilight’s mouth dropped open as she watched Cadance’s forelegs slip around Adora’s serpentine neck. It was like watching a mother reunite with her foal after not seeing them for an extended time, except that Adora hadn’t even been born yet. Cadance had never even met Adora. Confused, Twilight felt her hind legs buckle and she sat down hard upon the floor, landing with a muffled plop. Agape, Twilight watched as Cadance and Adora kissed one another, their affection genuine, honest, and sincere.

But all was not well. Twilight saw Shining Standing in the doorway. He was scowling. This was not the reaction that Twilight expected at all. Her brother looked… angry. Furious even. Shining Armor’s expression was almost scary and Twilight hoped that Adora didn’t look at him at this moment. Twilight felt something wrapping around her foreleg and clinging to her. Looking down, she saw Spike, and Spike’s cheeks were damp. Extending her wing, she wrapped it around Spike and held him close as Adora continued to give fierce hugs to Cadance.

“I feel as though I’ve known you my whole life,” Cadance said in a voice raspy with emotion. “Oh it feels so nice to hold you.” Closing her eyes, Cadance pressed her lips against Adora’s nose and gave the draconequus a kiss.

Just inside the door, Shining Armor stood there, glowering, shaking his head, staring at Cadance and Adora. He began to back away, his ears pinned back against his skull. He opened his mouth, almost as if he was about to say something, but then fell silent.

Lifting her head, Cadance looked at Twilight, her sister in law, her eyes shiny with tears. “Twilight Sparkle, that was some impressive magic, sending a projection of yourself to explain the situation—”

“What?” Twilight, confused, interrupted Cadance and shook her head.

“An image of you appeared not long after Princess Celestia sent a message. You explained everything that had happened and you reminded me that I had a duty as a mother to look after Adora even if I didn’t know her yet. It was a very emotional speech,” Cadance said.

Confused, Twilight shook her head. She had no memory of sending a projection to speak to Cadance. She was missing some time however. Had she appeared to Cadance in a moment of time travel and explained everything? Twilight Sparkle didn’t know. This was very strange. With Spike squeezing her leg, Twilight sat there, feeling very, very confused about how everything was turning out.

“You reminded me that motherhood was sacrosanct and that if I turned Adora away, that if I rejected her, I would be doing irreparable harm to my own flesh and blood. You made a very convincing argument… Twilight Sparkle… you’ve grown up so much and become so wise. When you spoke to me, I had trouble believing how grown up you sounded. I guess at some point, you’ve stopped being the curious little foal that I foalsat. Thank you, Twilight Sparkle, for reminding me of my duties.”

A dull ache filled Twilight’s skull as her mind filled with dreadful confusion. She was so focused on Adora, Cadance, and Cadance’s words that she no longer noticed her brother and the dark storm brewing on his face. “Yeah…” Twilight sucked in a nervous deep breath. “Heh… sometimes I surprise myself by how grown up I can be.” She had no memory of making such a speech and a peculiar prickling feeling was creeping up Twilight’s spine. What else had she done during her blackout?

“Cadance… how could you… Discord... Cadance, he betrayed us all,” Shining Armor said in a voice that was almost a whine. Pain, terrible pain could be heard in Shining Armor’s voice. “Cadance, how could you?”

“Shining Armor, we talked about this—”

“No Cadance, you talked about this and I just stood there, unable to get a word in edgewise!” Shining Armor shook his head. “How could you do this?”

“Shining Armor, are you judging me for something I haven’t even done yet?” Cadance began to disentangle herself from Adora, trying to get onto her hooves so she could speak to Shining Armor. “Shining Armor, this happened in the future, long after you were dead—”

“Well, good job honouring my memory… I work tirelessly to defend the country I love and you… you! You go off and you… you… welcome a known traitor into our bed!”

Cadance gasped. Adora, sniffling, wrapped one of her forelegs around one of Cadance’s hind legs. Tears began to roll down Adora’s cheeks. Twilight, after several attempts, found that she had no words to say.

“Shining Armor… I ask that you please reconsider your behaviour in front of our foal—”

“THAT IS NOT MY FOAL!” Shining Armor snapped, stomping his hoof down, the loud sudden sound caused Adora to squeal in terror. A guilty look crept over Shining Armor’s face. He looked down at the excessively pink draconequus clinging to Cadance’s legs. “I can’t deal with this. I just can’t deal with this right now. I’m sorry for my outburst… I am leaving.” Turning tail, Shining armor made his way to the door.

“Shining Armor, how could you?” Twilight rushed forwards, feeling Spike slip free from her leg. “Shining Armor, don’t you dare open that door!”

“Twilight, leave him be!” Cadance commanded. “Captain Shining Armor, you are free to go. Consider yourself dismissed.”

“I’m out of here,” Shining Armor grumbled as he yanked the door open, stepped through, exited, and then slammed the massive door shut behind him.

“How could you just let him go?” Twilight demanded as hot tears began to bubble up in the corners of her eyes. “How could you just let him leave? How could you just dismiss him?”

Cadance, who had sat back down and was trying to console Adora, glanced up at Twilight. “Because I trust Shining Armor to do the right thing. He’s hurt and he’s confused. He feels betrayed. He just needs time to sort himself out and I have confidence that he will come around.”

Running forwards, Spike tackled Adora, slamming into her and clinging to her long neck as Cadance also tried to cradle Adora’s long, noodly body in her forelegs.

“Adora, Shining Armor is very hurt… please do not hold this against him,” Cadance said, whispering into Adora’s long, rabbit-like ear. “I promise you, in time, he will grow to love you and we will somehow sort all of this out.”

Adora, too hurt for words, blubbered against Cadance’s neck, clinging to Spike as if he was a small dragon stuffy. She closed her eyes and buried her face into Cadance’s mane as her long, serpentine body was wracked by terrible sobs.

Twilight Sparkle, recovering from her shock, went over to be with Cadance, Spike, and Adora. She knelt down upon the floor, settled in close, and then without even understanding why, began to cry herself, clinging to Cadance and Adora, with Spike sandwiched in tight.

Author's Note

I ask that you reserve your judgments until more is revealed about Shining Armor's motivations. He hasn't had his say just yet. And he has plenty to say.

Next chapter... Princess Celestia and Princess Luna come a knockin'.

Chapter 7

Feeling a vague sense of unease, Twilight Sparkle watched as Cadance, Spike, and Adora played together. She didn’t know what they were doing, but they appeared to be having fun. Questions lingered in Twilight’s mind, important questions that she wanted answered. There was a mystery here that was left unsolved.

As Twilight was watching, Cadance pulled Adora closer and then began to whisper into Adora’s long, pink, bunny rabbit-like ear. Twilight watched as Adora grinned and then a prickling sensation of fear overcame Twilight.

With a fierce cry, Adora launched herself like a coiled spring, her long supple body snapping out straight, and Twilight’s vision filled with pink, very much like trying to swim in an ocean of pink lemonade, something that Twilight had once been forced to do on account of Pinkie Pie. Pink lemonade stung the eyes something awful.

A second later, Twilight, now giggling, was pinned to the floor and Adora was looped around on top of her. The alicorn wiggled and squirmed beneath the draconequus, but everything she did was naught but futile effort. Seeing something else that was pink in the corner of her eye, Twilight turned and saw Cadance. Cadance had her wings extended.

“NO!” Twilight begged, knowing what Cadance was about to do. Twilight tried to squirm away. “No!” Twilight shook her head, realising that she was trapped and that there was nothing she could do. “No, please!”

Cadance shook her head and with a grin full of mock-menace, Cadance stabbed at Twilight with her wing-tips and began to tickle, causing Twilight to shriek and giggle. Twilight tried to roll away, but it was impossible. There was just too much limp draconequus pinning her down.

“Who is the best foalsitter in the world?” Cadance demanded.

Twilight, unable to reply, continued to bellow with laughter.

“Say it! Who is the best foalsitter in the world?” Cadance said, repeating herself.

“YOU ARE!” Twilight screamed in between her guffaws.

Cadance pulled away her wings, her eyes wide, and a crazed manic grin upon her face. “Oh… I’ve lost control of them… look out for… the wings!” Cadance flared out her primaries and menaced Adora.

Seeing that her mother meant business, Adora squealed and whompled off, her long body doubling up like an inchworm as she ran away, her claws scrabbling upon the stone floor of Twilight’s crystal castle.

Having no one left to menace, and with Twilight subdued, Cadance whirled around and faced Spike. “Prepare for your DOOM!”

“Nope!” Spike took off at an all out run with Cadance hot on his heels.

Twilight’s laughter was interrupted by knocking, there was a powerful thumping at the front door. Sucking wind, her sides heaving, Twilight disengaged from the game of tag and excused herself to go and answer the giant double doors.

As Twilight made her way down the hall, there was a terrific crash. Cadance and Adora were far more durable than regular ponies, for them, playing rough didn’t mean getting hurt. Much to Twilight’s surprise, Cadance liked to play rough; this was a side of Cadance that Twilight had not seen. Spike was also quite durable. Twilight did however, worry about the structural integrity of her castle.

Standing before the double doors, Twilight Sparkle undid the locks and then pulled the door open. The last two ponies she expected to see were standing on the other side of the doors, looking at her, wide eyed, and curious.

“Princess Celestia… Princess Luna, do come in,” Twilight Sparkle said, inviting them inside. She stepped aside and made a gesture with her wing.

“Why thank you, Twilight,” Celestia said as she entered.

“Yes indeed, thank you,” Luna added as she passed. Standing just inside the door, Luna began to look around. “You’ve done very little to decorate—”

“Luna!” Reaching out, Celestia prodded her sister with her hoof.

“Um, it’s okay, Luna’s right,” Twilight said as she shut the door and locked it. As she had shut the door, she took notice that guards had taken up position at the bottom of the stairs. Twilight scowled for a moment, not liking that there were guards in front of her castle, even though she was unable to say why she disliked it.

“OOOOH!”

Jerking her head around at the sound, Twilight saw a pink blur approaching at impossible speeds. Twilight cringed and threw her wings up in front of her face. She couldn’t bear to look at what was about to happen next. Adora was whomping down the hall at full steam, her tail whipping from side to side, running in a lopsided manner on mismatched legs.

“OOOOH! OOOOH!” Adora sounded almost like a train as she barreled down the hall.

“Look out—OOOF!”

Twilight, covering her face, heard Luna’s panicked cry at the moment of impact. A second later, there was a meaty sounding thump, and then Twilight heard Celestia make a most unladylike grunt, followed by Celestia saying, “Oh she—OOOMPH!—she’s full of enthusiasm, she must get it from Cadance!”

Pulling away her wings, Twilight peeped out from one halfway opened eye and looked. Adora had pinned both Celestia and Luna to the floor and was sitting on both of them, squeezing them both at the same time, squishing them together. Luna was squirming and trying to get free from Adora and Celestia, while Celestia was squeezing back, engaging Adora as well as Luna in a three way hug. Luna’s cheeks and eyes bulged as she was squeezed.

“This is undignified!” Luna gasped as she was squeezed by both Adora and Celestia.

Twilight Sparkle had never seen Princess Celestia behave like this before and she didn’t know what to think of seeing her former teacher act so foalishly. Hearing hooves on the stone floor, Twilight lifted her head and watched as Cadance approached. There was something about Cadance’s smile. Twilight couldn’t say what it was, but something about it made Twilight feel emotional, a strong rush of feelings that almost made her feel lightheaded.

“Oh, you have such a beautiful smile,” Celestia said as she stared upwards at Adora.

“Thank you, Aunt Celestia,” Adora replied, batting her eyelashes and smiling to show her many teeth.

“And you’re so well mannered as well.” Celestia glanced over at Cadance and then back up at Adora. “There is no mistaking that you are Cadance’s little sweetheart.”

Adora let go of both Celestia and Luna as she got up. She then helped Luna get to her hooves, and then Celestia. Adora, unable to help herself, gave Luna an affectionate hug, followed by a slobbery kiss on the cheek.

“Pray tell, what have I done to earn such affection from you?” Luna asked as she extended one wing and wrapped it around Adora’s long, serpentine neck in an affectionate hug. Luna ignored the fact that her cool demeanour and facade of utter aloofness was now gone.

Adora, looking bashful, reached out and touched Luna’s neck with her paw. “You tucked me into bed at night and you read me stories. You’re the bedtime princess.”

For a moment, Luna looked as though she had been struck. Her eyes went wide and she pulled away from Adora, her ears pinning back against her skull. She backed away, her eyes shimmering with tears. “Pardon me, I need a moment.”

Luna took off at a run down the hall, covering her face with her wings, leaving behind a sorrowful looking, stricken draconequus, a confused Twilight Sparkle, an open-mouthed Cadance, and a sad looking sister, Celestia.

“Did I do something wrong?” Adora asked, wringing her paw and her talons together.

Celestia shook her head as Luna vanished around the corner. “Luna still has trouble with her emotions.”

“I don’t understand.” Adora’s large, oversized, diamond dog like paw twitched as Adora raised it up to scratch her head. She slumped down, looking miserable, and stared off in the direction that Luna had vanished. She began to sniffle as tears spilled down her cheeks.

Celestia, standing beside Adora, lowered her head and gave Adora a gentle nuzzle, trying to make her feel better, and Cadance moved closer, standing beside both Celestia as well as her daughter.

Around the corner came Spike, who took one look at everything and then a look of confusion settled over his face. He waddled closer, glancing at Adora, then Twilight, and then back at Adora, feeling concerned for the draconequus. “What happened? Why is Adora crying?”

“She made Luna feel loved, and Luna was overwhelmed,” Celestia replied, being honest. “Come, let us find a more comfortable place to be together. Luna will join us when she sorts herself out.”

“Shining Armor has gone to be with his parents,” Princess Celestia said as she settled herself upon a pile of cushions. “He’s in Canterlot and he’s very, very upset.”

“Shining Armor will come around.” Cadance spoke with the utmost of confidence as she replied. “I’m not worried. Shining Armor will do the right thing. Shining Armor always does the right thing.” Cadance paused and shook her head. “Sometimes, it takes him a while to figure out what the right thing is.”

“Poor Shiny,” Twilight said as she flopped her backside down upon a small, round, chartreuse cushion. As Twilight was opening her mouth to continue speaking, she saw Spike enter the room, alone. Instead of saying what she had been about to say, she said something else. “Spike, where is Adora?”

“She’s laying down for a nap… she says she’s tired. Princess Luna is in her room with her, reading her a book and cuddling with her in the bed.” For a moment, it looked as though Spike was blushing. He stammered, making wordless noises, and then recovered. “You know what, I think I’m going to join them.” Turning tail, Spike departed, hurrying away.

Celestia watched Spike go and when he was out of sight, she turned to look at Cadance and Twilight Sparkle, her eyes narrowed, and her face serious. “No word on Discord’s location just yet.” The white alicorn paused for a moment, took a deep breath, and then cleared her throat. “We need to discuss what to do with Adora.”

“There is nothing to discuss, I intend to take her home with me,” Cadance said.

“Cadance, she is a draconequus—”

“Aunt Celestia, I am only going to say this one more time.” Cadance cleared her throat and her ears perked forwards. “I am taking her home with me.”

Hearing the tone of Cadance’s voice, Celestia’s ears splayed out sideways. Realising that this particular action was not up for discussion, Celestia conceded to Cadance with a sigh. “Very well Cadance… but what do we do with her? What if she turns out to be dangerous? How do we keep our little ponies safe?”

“Well, to start with, we begin by treating Adora as one of our little ponies.” Cadance’s voice held a hard edge and her eyes narrowed. Cadance’s teeth clicked together and her lips trembled as her jaw muscles clenched.

“Cadance, there is no need to be upset, I am trying to approach this rationally and logically.” Celestia looked over at her former student. “Help me, Twilight, please, make Cadance see reason.”

“No,” Twilight said right away. “No, I’m sorry, I can’t. I see where this might go and I will not choose between two friends… or my teacher and my sister in law. I can’t.” Twilight shook her head and her lips pressed into a tight, straight line.

“Look, I’m not trying to be an awful pony, I just want to keep everypony safe, including Adora.” Celestia, her expression one of apologetic concern, looked Cadance in the eye. “All I want is time to get to know her better… time to develop trust.”

“That’s reasonable,” Cadance replied. “And you can do that by coming to the Crystal Empire and watching Adora while she is at home.”

“I do have an issue to bring up about Adora and the Crystal Empire,” Twilight said, her voice cracking mid-sentence from nervousness. The expression on Cadance’s face didn’t help matters at all. Nervous, now fearful that she had made her sister in law angry, Twilight stammered. “I-I-I just w-w-w-wanted to bring up t-t-t-the fact that Discord might w-w-w-w-want a say in where Adora lives.”

Hearing Twilight’s words, Cadance’s flinty expression softened a bit. “You make a fair point Twilight.” Cadance heard and saw Twilight heave a sigh of relief. She then turned to face Celestia. “She is still coming home with me, this changes nothing. If Discord is as reformed as he claims to be, then he too will want the best for Adora. And that means a stable, loving, nurturing home environment.”

Expressionless, Celestia realised that this was a battle that could not be won, not without great cost or the potential ruination of many relationships of all involved. Inwards, she felt a growing sense of fear. This is what spirits of disharmony did, causing derision, strife, discord, paranoia, and distrust among ponies. Celestia was worried that it was already happening.

Or was it? Celestia wasn’t certain. She didn’t know how Cadance would act in this situation, she had nothing to compare with, no means to gage how Cadance might act under normal circumstances.

“Aunt Celestia, I don’t want there to be any ill feelings between us,” Cadance said, her pink ears splaying out sideways. “Nothing about this visit is turning out the way I wanted it to. I wanted all of us to be together… there was something I wanted very much to do while we were all together.”

“What was that, Cadance?” Twilight asked.

Turning her head, Cadance gave Twilight a bittersweet smile and replied, “Shining Armor and I are going to have a foal together. I just found out about a week ago and I wanted all of us to be together and having a special time together. But then Shining Armor got all moody, and that’s understandable, and then Auntie wanted to take my foal away.” Cadance swiveled her head around and affixed her stare upon Celestia.

Suddenly, things made a little more sense to Celestia. The alicorn’s ears perked up. “I didn’t want to take Adora away, I just wanted to keep her in Canterlot under supervision for a while… but that is neither here nor there and I will not discuss this matter further and upset you. My apologies, Cadance.”

“Apology accepted,” Cadance replied. “You have an official invitation to the Crystal Empire. You can supervise all you want and spend as much time as you’d like getting to know Adora.”

“And perhaps throw a foal shower?” Celestia asked.

“Hey, I bet Rarity and Pinkie both would love to get in on that!” Twilight said as the tension in the room dissipated.

Author's Note

Hang on, the center does not hold!

Chapter 8

Unable to sleep, Adora Belle tossed in her bed. Shining Armor. The brave and noble knight in all of the stories her mother told her. Shining Armor, the good pony. Shining Armor, who loved Mommy more than anything else in the whole wide world.

But Shining Armor had left and it was all Adora’s fault. She had been holding it in for a long time now, it hurt like nothing else had ever hurt her before. She had driven Mommy and Shining Armor, the noble knight, apart. Rolling over once more, Adora sighed.

She slipped from her bed with an easy silence and landed upon the floor with a soft, muffled whump, her long tail slapping the ground like a soggy noodle. She slithered over the floor, trying to be as sneaky as possible, like when she used to sneak up on Daddy, trying to scare him. Daddy was always good fun to scare.

She slipped from her room and made her way down the hall, past the sleeping alicorns. Living in the past wasn’t so different from living in the future. They had all lived together while waiting for the end to come. Lifting her head, Adora paused. No, things were different. Celestia’s snoring wasn’t quite as loud as it would become. For now, it only sounded like a chuffing steam engine of some sort, or perhaps a flatulent dragon. With each inhale, Celestia let out a raspberry sound as her lips flapped.

Prowling down the hall, Adora smiled. She liked being sneaky. It felt good. Sneaky Time was fun time. Sneaky Time was playing hide and go seek in the Fortress. Sneaky Time was turning into a pillow or a stuffed animal and then hiding in plain site as those looking for you walked right past you. Adora was allowed to have Sneaky Time but it had to end when somepony shouted, “Alle, Alle, auch sind frie!” the magic words invented by Daddy that meant that Sneaky Time for a good little draconequus was over and it was time to behave.

Adora realised that nopony right now knew the magic words. She froze in place. This did not mean that playtime would never end; no, it meant that Adora had to decide when to be good. She wasn’t certain if she was the best judge for this, she knew that sometimes, her playful nature got the best of her.

Flashing a shark-like smile, Adora slithered through Spike’s door. Spike would be able to help. Spike always knew what to do and Adora had been told time and time again, if she was in trouble, find Spike and he would help.

“Spike!” Adora hissed in a loud, yet hushed whisper. As a draconequus, she could perform all manner of contrary acts that would have been impossible for somepony else. “Spike, wake up!” Adora poked the little dragon and heard a grunt.

“Shouldn’t you be sleeping?” Spike asked in a sleepy voice.

“I can’t sleep,” Adora replied. She poked Spike again, then again, and then once more for good measure. Each poke was a poke of love and affection, as well as being a motivator to get up.

“What to do you want?” Spike asked, opening his eyes and looking at the enormous serpentine figure looming over him. “Stop poking me, I’m awake.”

“We have to get Mommy and Shining Armor back together.” Adora lifted Spike up out of the bed and gave him a squeeze as she cradled him in her forelegs. “It’s my fault that they don’t love each other any more.”

Spike blinked and was now very much awake.

“We need to go and find Shining Armor. We need to go and find him and we need to tell him how important it is for him to love Mommy and for them to be together. And I need you to help me do it because I know that you know where Shining Armor is.” Adora set Spike down upon the bed and looked him in the eye, her nose touching his nose.

“Adora, this is a bad idea, such a bad idea—”

“Please?” Adora turned on the charm, trying to look as sad as possible.

“What if he doesn’t want to come back with us?” Spike asked.

“Then we make him come back with us, for his own good, and for the good of Mommy. If they don’t love each other, the universe might break,” Adora replied.

Oh bother. Spike, feeling overwhelmed, didn’t know what to say. “Shining Armor isn’t going to want to come back with us if we go to him. He’s just going to contact the other princesses, they’ll come, and we’ll get in trouble, and everything will be worse.”

“Then we can’t let him contact the princesses and we can’t let him stop us.” Adora’s pink, fuzzy eyebrows furrowed and her long rabbit ear drooped down. “We have to fix this. I have to fix this. If you can’t help me, then I’ll do it alone.”

Spike paused. He had specific instructions to look after Adora, given to him by Twilight Sparkle. Twilight might have crazy discorded eyes, but she was still Twilight Sparkle, and she had trusted him as her number one assistant.

“Shining Armor has powerful magic,” Spike said.

“I can deal with that.” Adora looked down at the little dragon. “So you’ll help me?”

Knowing that he was dooming himself, Spike nodded. He couldn’t get into that much trouble for following orders, could he? He thought about this for a moment, knowing there was something wrong with this line of reasoning, but he couldn’t put his claw on what it was.

“Adora, can you fly us to Canterlot?” Spike asked.

The draconequus nodded. “Yup. I think so. Where is Canterlot?”

“I’ll show you when we get outside,” Spike replied. “But first, we need to pack a few things for the trip.”

Adora landed on the roof of the house Spike had pointed out, not making a single sound. Spike, clinging to Adora’s back, couldn’t help but notice that Adora didn’t quite float like Discord did. She had to fly… if one could call it flying. To Spike, it looked more like Adora was swimming through the air.

Spike could hear Adora’s muffled, heavy breathing. He looked around in the darkness. There were very few lights on in the houses, and most of the light came from street lamps. This was a place that Spike knew. He had grown up here, when he and Twilight weren’t in Canterlot Castle. Twilight’s parent’s house was one of the places he considered home.

“Shining Armor’s bedroom is directly below us. The window is right under the edge of the roof… he always sleeps with his window open, even in the dead of winter. Twilight says it’s because Shining Armor is a stinky pony.”

There was a giggle in the darkness as Adora made her way to the edge of the roof with Spike still clinging to her back. Spike, scared out of his mind, knew this was a bad idea, but he didn’t know what else to do. He couldn’t let Adora go off on her own, and, truth be told, he knew that Shining Armor and Cadance had to be brought back together somehow.

Standing on the edge of the roof, Adora craned her long neck around to have a look. The window was open and in the faint light, Adora could see Shining Armor, sound asleep in the bed. Reaching around, she grabbed Spike, lifted him from her back, and then eased him in through the window. She slithered in after him as Spike stood beside the bed, his eyes wide and staring.

Spike asked himself, Am I really about to participate in a ponynapping?

In the bed, Shining Armor snorted and his eyes opened. His horn flashed for a moment, glowing bright, and Spike almost screamed like a filly. Adora reached out with her eagle talons, and, touching one claw to Shining Armor’s horn, put an end to his magic.

“What are you doing?” Shining Armor demanded as he shook his head, his horn spilling out magenta sparks.

Yes, Spike said to himself. He was about to participate in a ponynapping. “Adora, hold him down, but don’t hurt him.”

“Sorry,” Adora said, apologising as she tossed her long body over Shining Armor, pinning him down. She ignored his kicking and his struggles as Spike reached into his napsack. She watched as Spike pulled out a roll of gaffer’s tape. She gave Spike a nod as she wrapped her paw and her talons around Shining Armor’s muzzle, silencing him and keeping him still.

Wincing, cringing, Spike wrapped the gaffer's tape over Shining Armor’s mouth, but was careful not to cover Shining Armor’s nostrils. “I’m really sorry, Shining Armor, but there is a future at stake and I can’t let you leave Cadance.” Spike went to work taping Shining Armor’s legs together.

When Spike was done trussing Shining Armor up, Spike realised that his life was probably over. He wondered what life in a dungeon would be like. There was no turning back now. “Adora, we need to go… Twilight Velvet is a light sleeper.”

The draconequus nodded and dropped her body low so Spike could climb up on her back. She lifted Shining Armor in her forelegs, holding him close, giving him an apologetic squeeze as he thrashed against his restraints. When Spike was sitting right between her wings, Adora slipped out the window, and into the night.

“Spike, I’m getting tired,” Adora whined as her wings fluttered. “Shining Armor is too heavy!” The draconequus was struggling to remain in the air and tears glimmered in her pink and yellow eyes.

Panicked, Spike wondered what would happen if Adora suddenly couldn’t fly any more. He couldn’t see very well, but there was enough moonlight to see a few details. He peered at the mountain on which Canterlot sat atop of.

“There!” Spike cried as he pointed. “There’s a ledge!” His stomach lurched as Adora banked and headed for the ledge. He wasn’t certain they would make it, she was dropping fast. He felt her mismatched wings slashing at the air as she struggled to remain airborne.

A moment later, they hit the ledge, crashing into it. Spike rolled away. Adora collapsed like a big pile of noodle. Meanwhile, Shining Armor skidded to a halt, bouncing over several rocks and bumping into a lone pine tree that called this ledge home.

“Ouchie.” Adora lifted her head and looked around.

Spike, one durable dragon, lifted himself up, but that was a mistake. His head was swimmy. He sat back down, rubbing his head, and felt panic grip him when he saw a flash of magenta light, followed by ripping sounds.

“You horrible, no good, wretched, vile, hideous pink monstrosity!” Shining Armor shouted. “How dare you come into my parent’s home and steal me away out of my own bed after what you did to Cadance and I.”

Spike, turning his head, watched Adora drop, going limp and covering her face. He felt a pain in his stomach, a stabbing sensation, followed by a twitching in his muscles.

“You disgusting pink mutant!”

Spike heard a pained whimper.

“You took away my magic!”

Spike felt dizzy and far too hot.

“And you made Spike wrap me up in tape!”

Oh, something was wrong. Spike did not feel well.

“I’m gonna make certain you spend a thousand years as a stone statue for this!”

Spike could hear Adora’s plaintive whimpers, something about the sound hurt him.

“It didn’t do much for that wretched traitor that you call your father, but it’s a start!”

Spike heard a screaming sob. Something inside of him broke. He heard a roaring sound. A terrible roaring sound. A terrible, fierce roaring sound. It took Spike a moment, but he realised that the roaring sound was him.

Claws out, Spike advanced on Shining Armor, wisps of smoke trailing from his nostrils. “You get away from her,” Spike growled as he stomped forwards. Sparks flew from his mouth as he spoke. He could see Shining Armor’s eyes go wide with fear. “YOU GET AWAY FROM HER!”

Shining Armor backed away, only stopping when his rump bumped into the pine tree.

“She worships and adores you… when we were flying up to Canterlot, she told me how Cadance told her stories… and every story had a knight in shining armor… YOU! You were her knight in shining armor. She loves you and adores you… you’re her hero… and look WHAT YOU’VE DONE TO HER!” Spike bellowed. “She wanted you back with Cadance so the two of you could be happy… HOW DO YOU THINK CADANCE WOULD FEEL IF SHE HEARD YOU SAYING WHAT YOU SAID?” Spike flexed his claws as his vision turned a scary shade of red. There was a sound in his ears, a sound like a swarm of bees.

Shining Armor recoiled as if he had been struck. His jaw dropped, leaving his mouth open, and Shining Armor tried to make a reply. His eyes remained locked on Spike and a terrified expression was plastered to Shining Armor’s face.

Realising what he had done, what he had said, the words that had come out of his mouth, the terrible things he had said to Cadance’s daughter, Shining Armor felt as though he was going to throw up at any second. He staggered forwards. “I’m sorry Adora… I don’t know what came over me—”

“STAY AWAY!” Spike belched out a gout of flame that arced over Shining Armor’s head, scorching away Shining Armor’s eyebrows, leaving even more of Shining Armor’s face bald and hairless.

“I’m sorry… I made a terrible mistake… let me make it better,” Shining Armor said as the heartbreaking sounds of sobbing filled his ears. Sobbing that he had caused.

There was a brilliant flash of light and the night was suddenly as bright as day. Confused, Shining Armor blinked, trying to figure out what was going on, and then he heard a booming voice. “I TOLD YOU SHE WAS DANGEROUS! LOOK AT THE DISSENT AND THE CHAOS SHE HAS SOWN!”

Looking up, Shining Armor saw Princess Celestia, just as Celestia was entering into a dive. Beside Celestia, Twilight Sparkle hovered in the air. Luna was raising a shield. And Cadance… Cadance was screaming for Celestia to stop. Shining Armor’s singed ears perked at the sounds of Cadance’s pleading, shrieking cries.

Knowing that he needed to atone for his mistake, Shining Armor threw himself over Adora’s body as Spike whirled around to face Celestia. Shining Armor summoned his shield spell, not knowing how well it would work against alicorns.

As he did this, he realised that he might not be able to win back Adora’s trust after the awful things he had said, but at least he could be her knight in shining armor. He could be the pony she had heard stories about. He could be Cadance’s champion. Throwing everything he had into his shield spell, he hoped that he could earn Cadance, Adora, and Spike’s forgiveness.

Author's Note

Hang on!

Chapter 9

“STOP!”

Twilight Sparkle’s magically amplified voice boomed, cutting through the chaos and silencing everypony about to be involved in what was sure to be the mother of all fracases, the fight that would go down in history books as being worse than Princess Celestia and her sisterly squabble with Princess Luna. Residents in both Canterlot and Ponyville could hear Twilight Sparkle as clear as day.

Shining Armor’s shield was smoking, but it had held. Princess Cadance had delivered a good zap to Princess Celestia, but there seemed to be no serious injury; Princess Celestia was smouldering a bit and her feathers were ruffled.

“I know what is going on here,” Twilight Sparkle said. She watched Princess Celestia blink at her. Cadance’s horn was powering down. Princess Luna still had a shield bubble around her. Twilight Sparkle thought about her magical analysis on Adora’s hair. “Our love is getting the best of us.”

“What?” Cadance asked, flapping her wings, and hovering over Adora and Shining Armor. She looked at Twilight, who landed on the narrow ledge.

“Adora… she’s making us love… but this isn’t something that can be blamed on her… it’s us,” Twilight replied. She cleared her throat and took a deep breath. “Adora magnifies all of the chaotic aspects of love… for Shining Armor, who loves you, Cadance, I think he’s consumed by crazy, jealous love. For Princess Celestia, who loves her ponies more than anything—” Twilight looked her former teacher right in the eye. “Your love for them is being magnified to the point of being an overprotective mother… which is exactly the sort of love that Cadance is feeling right now.” Twilight pointed a wing at her sister in law. “That’s the sort of love where you will do anything to keep what you love safe, even crazy things.”

A dawning look of realisation spread over Celestia’s face and the alicorn looked at Adora.

“Adora can’t make us feel these things… she can only work with what is already there… for whatever reason, Luna is not affected by all of this and seems to be the only sane pony left.” Twilight made a gesture at Luna, who was hovering a few yards away. She saw Luna shrug. Twilight took another deep breath, closed her eyes for a moment, and steeled her nerves.

She opened her eyes, looked around at each pony involved, and then focused on Spike. “Even Spike felt it. Look at him. You can see how much he loves.” Twilight paused and looked at Adora for a moment before lifting her head. She gave herself a shake. “Now apologise… all of you… and admit that you love one another!”

Shining Armor could hear soft words of apology being spoken all around him, but ignored them, focusing on Adora. He felt terrible. He had hurt Cadance’s foal. A dull heaviness settled over his heart. He didn’t know how to fix this. He sat down beside Adora, who was curled up in misery.

“I’m sorry—”

“You’re a meanie-head!”

The stallion gave a reluctant nod. “I suppose I am.” He reached down and tried to pick Adora up, grabbing her by the neck, but Adora could not be picked up. Her neck stretched out like rubber, leaving her head on the ground, growing longer and longer as Shining Armor struggled to scoop her up.

“I really am sorry though… I was jealous… I was so angry… and I took it out on you… I don’t know what came over me… I love Cadance so much… the thought of her with Discord, having you… the thought of her happy with somepony else, it ate me up inside and made me a very unhappy, very hurt pony. Can you understand?” Shining Armor, who hadn’t given up trying to hug Adora, settled for hugging her scooped up loops of excessive, rubbery neck.

“Adora, I think he means it,” Spike said, reaching out and touching Adora’s side.

Lifting her head, Adora’s neck shrank, and she allowed her head to be cradled in Shining Armor’s forelegs. She looked up into his eyes and saw tears. The meanie-head was hurting. She was still hurt and angry herself, but Adora couldn’t bear seeing another pony hurt. She wrapped her forelegs around Shining Armor and gave him a hug. He had tried to protect her from Auntie Celestia, who had become a meanie-head herself.

“Can we start again?” Shining Armor asked.

Adora nodded and then gave Shining Armor a squeeze. She felt him squeeze back, his embrace growing ever tighter, and then Adora looked up and saw Aunt Celestia, the meanie-head.

“I want to tell you both that I am sorry. I let my emotions get the best of me. I was wrong for this, and I shall not let it happen again,” Princess Celestia said in a low, soft voice. “I love my little ponies a great deal, they are my primary concern, and I allowed my love to slip into obsession.”

“Jealousy isn’t much better… I didn’t know that I could be such an awful pony,” Shining Armor said to Princess Celestia. “I feel so ashamed of what I did.”

“Me too.” Celestia averted her eyes, unable to look at Shining Armor, Spike, and Adora for a moment. She cleared her throat, her wings fluttering as she did so, and then with great effort, resumed looking at the trio. “There is a lesson to be learned here. We are lucky to have Adora here to teach us.”

Cadance, unable to hold back any longer, lunged forwards, shoving Celestia aside, then tackled Adora and Shining Armor. She kissed both of them over and over. She squeezed them, her eyes closed, and tears streamed down her cheeks. “I finally have you both together, I feel so happy, let me love you both.”

Twilight Sparkle looked up into her former teacher’s eyes as Cadance loved on her reunited family. Twilight’s wings fluffed for a moment, and then Twilight inhaled, feeling a bit nervous. “Obsessive love is like obsessive friendship… both of them take a relationship and push it too far.”

Saying nothing, Princess Celestia stepped forwards, wrapped her wings around Twilight, and gave her a hug. Celestia, grateful, closed her eyes and was thankful that once again, Twilight Sparkle had restored order to a situation that had spiraled out of control.

Luna, who stood watching all of this, shook her head. “I just want to be the Princess of Bedtime… why must things become so complicated?”

While the others had returned to sleep, with the exception of Princess Luna, Twilight Sparkle paced the confines of her study. She felt unsettled, perturbed, and could not relax. Adora’s effect upon ponies was somewhat worrisome, but Twilight was afraid of what would happen when Adora met Discord.

She could not help but to imagine all of the nightmare scenarios. Discord loved chaos. While Discord was being somewhat well behaved as of late, nopony was quite certain what the draconequus was up to, or even where he was.

There was still the task of figuring out more about Adora and discerning her nature, the ever driving need to discover. There was also time travel to understand. Twilight glanced around, almost as if she was guilty. She had her own love, a powerful love of knowledge. But knowledge never hurt anypony, knowledge brought ponies together. Knowledge dispelled superstition and brought clarity. A love of knowledge had never lead anypony astray. One could do no wrong with a love of knowledge.

Twilight, with the look of a foal who was about to raid the cookie jar, moved towards the stack of tomes that contained the books she wanted. Spike was sound asleep and unable to lecture her. Twilight wasn’t going to do anything that might cause any explosions—just a little bit of light reading because she couldn’t sleep.

It wasn’t like she was breaking her promise to Spike. She wasn’t doing that at all. She wasn’t being irresponsible. She wasn’t going to cast any spells. She was just going to read a book, and there was no activity that could be safer than reading a book and passing the long hours that existed just before dawn.

As Twilight Sparkle pulled some books from the pile, there was a bright flash of light.

Future Twilight, feeling annoyed, stared down at her prone body, shaking her head and clucking her tongue. She raised one eyebrow, her ears perked forwards, and she said, “And I had such high hopes for myself.” Twilight had felt the time stream change yet again, and not for the better.

It seemed that all of her fears were coming true and that she was going to have to uproot Adora and take her further back in time. It pained Twilight a great deal. She had of course, tried to reason with herself once more, but Past Twilight was not a reasonable pony, at least not about this, and insisted that there was no harm in knowing. Future Twilight had once again been forced to put herself down.

She whinnied in frustration, hating herself. “Such an annoying little pony… I can’t believe myself sometimes.” Twilight Sparkle rolled her red and yellow eyes, not quite knowing what to do next.

“I do not know what is going on, but you have mere moments to explain everything before I blast you into oblivion. I will then resurrect your ashes and kill you again, and again, and yet again, until such a time that I tire of killing you and scatter your ashes among the stars, so they can be retrieved later and I can resume destroying you for my amusement.”

Future Twilight froze. This was unexpected. Everypony was supposed to be asleep. Somehow, the past she remembered had changed somewhat. The cool, calm, collected voice behind her was a credible threat. Twilight could take on her past self with no trouble at all, but Luna, any Luna from past, present, or future, was the very textbook definition of dangerous. Twilight herself had included a small portrait of Luna in the dictionary to accompany the definition of the word ‘dangerous.’ Future Twilight had no doubt she could win the conflict, she had Luna’s powers, but the fight itself would be hazardous to others here in the castle.

Cringing, Twilight realised that she had goofed.

“Princess Luna… allow me to explain…”

“I see.” Princess Luna stood, almost statuesque, looking at Future Twilight and Past Twilight. Her teal eyes blinked. Few ponies could be as cold and logical as Luna, for when she wanted to be, she could be as cold as the vacuum of space. “Every word you told me was the truth, yet not every word was the whole truth.”

“Not everything remains true as the future shifts and changes.” Future Twilight paused and looked Luna in the eye. “As for the other things, I told you what I felt you needed to know. The rest of the details are either too troubling or are trivial.”

“Hmm, yes.” Luna’s ears perked forwards. “What strikes me as important is the fact that I trusted you and gave you the entirety of my power. That speaks volumes. I suppose I didn’t have much choice, yet it seems that I did the right thing.”

“I don’t know why you trusted me, not after the mistakes I made… this is all my fault. I led us all down the road to ruin. I took love and turned it into base chemistry… I tried to discern the true nature of magic and unravel its mysteries… and things took notice… they woke up...” Future Twilight’s words trailed away in a exhale of weary fatigue.

Luna, still calm, still cool, still collected, nodded. “Dreadful.”

“I’m starting to worry that I can’t fix this,” Twilight admitted. “What do you think, Luna? Should I take Adora further back? Should I disrupt my own ascension? How do I fix this?”

Princess Luna stared at Future Twilight, reflecting on how little Twilight had changed. “Do not give up just yet.” Luna cast a shifty glance around Twilight’s study. “I think I can help. You were right to trust me. You must be made to change your thinking.”

Snorting in frustration, Future Twilight kicked her own rump. “You stupid, stupid, frustrating little mare!”

“Perhaps what she needs… is a little nightmare therapy.” A frigid, cruel smile spread over Luna’s muzzle, a smile devoid of any warmth, a chilling smile that was as cold as the emptiness between the stars.

Future Twilight shivered as she began to have memories of a very vivid nightmare.

Author's Note

We draw closer to the end.

Chapter 10

Princess Celestia took one look at her former student as she sat down at the breakfast table and cringled. Breakfast was over, more or less, but Twilight was only now getting out of bed and sitting down to eat. There were bags under Twilight’s eyes, they were bloodshot, and Twilight looked rather haunted.

“Twilight, are you okay?” Celestia blinked as she waited for an answer.

“No… no I’m not… I had a terrible dream. I had… I had the worst… I can’t even talk about it… so bad… so horrible… it was… like… some glimpse or something… into some horrible future,” Twilight replied, blurting out her words and stammering.

Turning her head, Celestia looked at her sister, Luna. “Did you do this?”

“No!” Luna shook her head, confident in her honesty. She hadn’t done this, Twilight Sparkle had done this to herself. Future Twilight had crafted the nightmare of all nightmares while Luna only observed and offered a few minor suggestions. So Luna was innocent of this. Luna gave Celestia a sleepy smile. “Sometimes, a guilty mind makes its own nightmares.”

“What do I have to be guilty about?” Twilight said, her voice weary and her expression dull and vacant.

“Oh, I was speaking in a general sense. I never said you are guilty of anything.” Luna paused and then stared at Twilight, looking her in the eye. “But if you were guilty of something, I bet you are feeling pretty bad about it right now.”

“I am,” Twilight muttered.

Celestia’s eyebrow lifted and she looked at her former student. “What was that?”

“Nothing,” Twilight replied and shook her head as she began to try and butter cold toast. She noticed both Celestia and Luna looking at her and Twilight ducked her head down, wishing that she was alone. “I just want to be left alone so I can eat my breakfast.”

How could I have been so stupid? Shining Armor looked down at the pink creature he was cuddling. How could I have been so cruel? He gave Adora an affectionate squeeze. How could I hate anything that came from Cadance? He glanced at his wife, feeling a little out of sorts, and still uncertain if he could or should look her in the eye. Adora is so much like Cadance… how could I have hurt her? Shining Armor closed his eyes for a moment and summoned his courage.

Opening his eyes, he asked, “Can you forgive me?”

“Mmm… I dunno,” Adora replied.

“You don’t know?” This was not the answer Shining Armor expected. He looked at Cadance, hoping for some kind of guidance, but Cadance was of no help at all. She was smirking and seemed to be enjoying this. Lowering his head, he nuzzled Adora’s ears. “Please forgive me?”

“Hmm, I’ll have to think about it.” Adora’s long tail whipped about and then brushed up against Shining Armor and gave him a tickle. “You were a bad pony.”

“Yes, yes I was.” Shining Armor had in fact, been a bad pony. Reaching down with his hoof, he placed it on the side of Adora’s neck and gave her a tickle back. He heard a soft giggle. “Look, I have ways of making you forgive me,” he said and then gave her another tickle.

Hooting, Adora shot free of Shining Armor’s embrace, whompled off a short distance, and then paused, staring wide eyed at Shining Armor, who sat there looking rather confused. Adora’s tail slashed through the air, her mismatched wings flapped, and her one long rabbit ear stood straight up.

“You’re supposed to chase her,” Cadance said in a soft whisper.

“Oh…” Shining Armor nodded and then got to his hooves. As he did so, he watched as Adora went streaking off down the hallway. Just as he was about to begin his pursuit, he was shoved over by Cadance, and then he watched as the pink alicorn bolted, leaving him all alone.

“Catch us if you can!” Cadance shouted as she ran away laughing.

Princess Celestia looked down at the white pegasus who stood upon the steps of Twilight’s castle, taking note of his golden, gleaming armor that was polished to perfection. She returned his salute and waited for him to deliver his message.

“Discord has been found, Majesty. He has said that he shall be here tomorrow, but there is no way of knowing if he will keep his word. He said that he was scheduled for tea with somepony named Fluttershy,” the guard said.

“Hmm.” Celestia nodded. “He will be here.” She gave the guard a smile. “Thank you for your efforts. You are free to go.”

“Thank you, Majesty,” the guard replied. He bowed his head, saluted once more, then he spread his wings, kicked off from the ground, and flew away.

Celestia watched as the white pegasus flew away, her mind thinking about Discord, Adora, and wondering how the situation would turn out. Discord was chaotic enough, but there was no way of telling how this might end. Thinking of the night before, Celestia felt bad for her part in how everything had spiraled out of control. She loved Adora, even though she couldn’t say why. After much thought, she no longer believed Adora to be dangerous, not if one understood her effect upon the creatures around her.

Adora’s subtle aura of impetuous love could be resisted, as evidenced by Luna. Now that Celestia was aware of the problem, it was easy to hold back her strong, protective instincts. It was easy to see everything as it was. Adora was a force of nature that inspired love in others. Celestia wasn’t certain if Adora was a spirit of disharmony like her father.

The large white alicorn sighed, waved at a few ponies that were staring at her, and then turned around to go back inside of Twilight Sparkle’s crystal castle.

“How does this happen?” Shining Armor looked down at the sleeping form of Adora sprawled over the floor. The middle of her long, noodly body rose and fell with each breath and she snuggled with her own tail, clutching it in her forelegs.

Cadance shrugged. “She’s still a foal… I think.”

“Cadance, you’re the foal sitter… and her mother I guess… you’re supposed to know.” Shining Armor looked at his wife. “I mean, she just stopped right in the middle of running, said the words ‘nap time’ and then flopped over.”

“Don’t you remember how it was when you were young?” Cadance asked in a low voice as she took a step closer to her husband. “When you were young and the world was such a large place… when you were young and it took forever for Hearth’s Warming Eve to come… when you were young and carefree… and there were no pressing concerns or responsibility. You could just lay down and take a nap.”

“I remember that sometimes I’d lay down and take a nap and I’d wake up and my mother would be holding me. Or my father. I remember how happy I would be to wake up with them.” Shining Armor paused, his cheeks turning a faint shade of pink. “One of my fondest memories as a foal was waking up because I felt something hit me. I woke up and I was curled up against my mother’s side, and little Twily was just kicking away. I could feel her. Mom laughed and laughed. She thought it was funny that Twily had woken me up from my nap. That was only the beginning of Twilight turning my whole life upside down.”

“Ooooh… that’s adorable,” Cadance whispered.

“Mom went into labour a little while later. I didn’t know what was going on.” Shining Armor looked down once more at Adora, his eyes narrowing. “So I’m going to be a father.”

“Yes, yes you are, Shining Armor,” Cadance replied. She saw Shining Armor glance up at her and she felt her heart fluttering in her barrel like a bird in a cage. Cadance could not help but wonder if Adora was having some effect upon her, because she felt very, very attracted to Shining Armor right about now.

“I could be Adora’s father too… I wouldn’t mind.” Shining Armor lifted his head and his ears folded back against his head. “Being a father isn’t so different from being a big brother. I was pretty good at being a big brother. At least, I’d like to think I was.”

“Shiny…” Cadance felt her eyes moisten.

“I’m willing to do whatever it takes and I’ll be there with you when you work things out with Discord. We need to work out something that is fair for all parties involved. Discord deserves a fair chance to be a father for Adora… if he’s capable. If not… well, I don’t even want to think about that right now. I’d like to believe that there is maybe some good in him and being around Adora will bring that out.”

“Shining Armor, I love you so much right now,” Cadance said.

“Cadance, I think I’m going to lay down and take a nap… so I’ll be there when she wakes up… so she can be happy.” Shining Armor smiled and looked at the slumbering draconequus on the floor.

“I think I’ll get a few cushions and join you,” Cadance said to her husband.

It seemed to be naptime. Princess Celestia shut the door of the room that Luna was staying in. Luna was a majestic creature when she was sleeping; mouth open, copious amounts of drool, and she snored like a runaway steam engine. How Spike managed to sleep curled up beside her Celestia had no idea, but Spike also seemed to be a champion snorer.

As she made her way down the hallway, Celestia wondered how Twilight got any sleep at all with Spike around. The white alicorn chuckled as she walked, feeling pleased with life in general. Shining Armor, Cadance, and Adora were all snoozing together, it seemed like a good start for the new family.

Pushing open the door to the library, Celestia entered. She found Twilight, who looked sleepy but was not napping. Twilight was sitting in a chair, staring at the wall, her chin resting on her hoof and she had her front leg propped up on the arm of the chair.

“Is something bothering you, my former student?” Celestia took a seat in a chair and got comfortable. She looked at Twilight and waited for a reply.

“I don’t know how to talk about it,” Twilight replied.

“Well, to start, you take a deep breath, you open your mouth, and then you just let the words spill out.” Celestia gave Twilight an encouraging smile.

“Every time I tried to find answers to some questions I have, something bad happened. I’ve been trying to study Adora… and time travel… I was going to investigate what makes ponies love one another and I was planning on studying the source of all magic—”

“Oh dear, that sounds ambitious,” Celestia said, gently butting in.

“But… it is like… it is like something doesn’t want me studying Adora… or time travel. I keep having blackouts. I wake up with chunks of time missing. Weird things keep happening and I can’t figure out what is going on.” Twilight shook her head. “It’s like something doesn’t want me studying certain things. Does that sound crazy?”

Celestia considered Twilight’s words, thinking about them for quite some time before she replied. “No Twilight. That does not sound crazy. Peculiar, perhaps. Strange maybe. But the world and our universe is a strange place. Maybe not everything is meant to be understood. Perhaps some mysteries should be preserved.”

“I came to a conclusion… instead of spending my life trying to understand why ponies love each other… I realised… I could be loving a pony. Like Shining Armor and Cadance love one another. Instead of just reading about it and trying to figure out the hows and whys of it working, I could be experiencing it… it’s like when I tried to study Pinkie Pie’s Pinkie Sense and all it got me was hurt… it is like something didn’t want me understanding that either… almost like the universe was shutting the door on me so I couldn’t peek inside at its mysterious inner workings.” Twilight rubbed her two front hooves together, her face thoughtful. “But when I just accepted it for what it was, I was happier. Having it as a mystery brought me closer to Pinkie Pie. The mystery is what makes Pinkie so special to me, now that I think about it. I think understanding the mystery would spoil our friendship. It is what makes her special.”

Looking at her former student, Princess Celestia’s heart filled with pride. “You have become so very wise, Twilight Sparkle.”

“There are more important things I could be doing… there is a whole wide world out there beyond these castle walls… I think I’d like to take my friends and go see more of it,” Twilight said.

Author's Note

One more chapter and then an epilogue.

Chapter 11

Sighing with contentment, Cadance looked at the vibrating pink draconequus. She knew she was about to ask one of those silly questions that mothers ask, for whatever reason it was that mothers asked them. She didn’t quite understand it herself, but with motherhood came the sudden need to state the obvious.

“Adora, are you excited?” Cadance asked, asking the question that should never be asked. It was a dangerous proposition, an open invitation to disaster, doubly so when one’s offspring was a draconequus, a being of nigh infinite probabilities for mischief. Adorable, adorable mischief.

“YEP!” Adora bounced in place a few times, and, unable to contain herself any longer, launched her body like a coiled spring right at Shining Armor, who was reading a newspaper.

Alas, poor Shining Armor was not prepared for the all out assault upon him. Struck by a pouncing draconequus, Shining Armor was bowled over and knocked right into Twilight Sparkle, and the three of them went down in a tangle of legs, wings, and mismatched body parts. Somehow, there was even a comical sound of a bowling ball hitting bowling pins, the odd manifestation of magic by both a draconequus or an earth pony, a phenomenon for which there was no explanation.

As Cadance watched the terrific collision, she began to understand that she had a terrible power, but she made no vows to use it responsibly. Instead, she giggled and plotted new ways to use it. Cadance, new to motherhood, made the same assumption as all mothers; which is to say, ‘my foal is adorable, they are not wreaking havoc, they are being cute.’

Princess Celestia, a being of almost infinite cosmic power, an alicorn capable of moving the heavens, organising the planets, moving the sun, and even making the moon obey her whims, watched as her little ponies got trounced by the alicorn’s perfect foil, the draconequus. She let out a fierce battle cry, a sound that echoed through the hallways and the many rooms of of Princess Twilight Sparkle’s Crystal Friendship Castle. Moving to defend her fallen little ponies, Celestia chose her weapon, the object that would be used to smite the offending draconequus, and prepared to deliver an epic beat down.

A bright orange pillow with bright yellow tassels was raised high overhead, a perfect colour coordinated choice for the Warrior Princess of the Sun. Princess Celestia, joining the battle, let out an Alicorn Yodel of Defiance, a terrible sound that can only be produced by waggling one’s uvula at supersonic speeds, a fierce sound that had once cleared Equestria of many eldritch horrors. Using her pillow, Celestia smote Adora’s ruin upon the rocks, er, the stone floor of the crystal castle.

Cadance, seeing her offspring’s ruin smote all over the place, decided it was time for a change in management, a bit of a reshuffling in the ranks of power that ruled Equestria. She looked over at a very sleepy Luna and shouted, “Together, I think we can take her!”

For a moment, it seemed as though Twilight’s castle was tensing, fearful of what came next. Luna yawned and then catlike, she sprang to her hooves. Several dozen cushions rose into the air, all lifted by Luna’s magic, and then began to dance around her in orbit.

“Allow me to demonstrate the wonders of orbital bombardment!” Luna cried as she brought her orbital ring of death and dismemberment to bear upon her sister.

The first pillow connected with Celestia’s face with a satisfying ‘WHOMP!’ A second later, a second pillow in the orbital supply chain connected, slamming into Celestia with terrific force. The regal white alicorn staggered and before she could recover, another pillow impacted with her ear.

Adora slithered away, heading for the cover of Twilight Sparkle’s makeshift fortress of books. The book fortress, a shelter intended for one occupant and perhaps a Smarty Pants doll, was never intended to hold a draconequus within it’s walls. Like anything else set upon by an entity of chaos, the book fortress flew apart, leaving Twilight exposed.

Cadance, never one for fair fighting, not after the Queen Crysalis incident, snatched up the oversized and heavy sofa cushions and began lobbing them in rapid fire at her aunt, who was being hammered down to the floor by Luna’s wondrous orbital bombardment.

Shining Armor, whose loyalties lie divided, slunk away, figuring that he could swear an oath of fealty to whomever emerged triumphant. Calculating the odds, it looked as though Princess Luna was going to be his new boss.

Princess Celestia, a being who had rose to power by being shockingly ruthless and capable in battle, grabbed Twilight Sparkle and used the lavender alicorn as a shield, blocking incoming sofa cushions and the fantastical impacts of Luna’s orbital doomsday weapon.

Twilight Sparkle, now a shield, was forced to defend herself. Being a princess, she delegated responsibility the only way she knew how. “Spike! Do something!”

Spike, who had watched all of this unfold, shook his head. Nothing good would come of this. He fled the room, heading for the kitchen, using this opportunity to raid the freezer for ice cream. As Spike waddled away, Shining Armor joined him, casting a final glance over his shoulder, glad to be fleeing the horrors of the battlefield.

“Time out!” Twilight shouted. A moment later, a pillow knocked her cross eyed.

“There are no time outs in war, Sparkle,” Celestia said as she used her former student to block incoming blows. The Empress of the Sun watched as Twilight kicked and struggled. Twilight made a muffled cry when a pillow collided with her nose. Any moment now, Twilight would get angry and Celestia knew that the moment of victory would be at hoof.

As an all powerful ruler, it behooved one to be patient.

Giggling, Adora sat in the middle of the carnage and watched as chaos unfolded all around her, feeling very happy and satisfied without knowing why. She clapped her dog like paw and her talons together and was overcome with glee.

After observing Luna, Adora believed that Luna had the right idea with her orbiting ring of death. Staring at her dog paw, Adora’s nose twitched as she tried to summon up her magic. She needed a circling ring of pillows. She snapped her paw fingers—

Everything went wrong. Everything went so very wrong. Adora managed to summon the stuffing for the pillows, but not the outer covering, the soft fabric case that made a pillow a pillow. The air was filled with what appeared to be billions of white chicken feathers that were sucked into a swirling vortex and formed a tornado.

Whoops! Adora looked at her mother to see if she was in trouble. Mommy didn’t seem to be angry, just terrified. Mommy’s eyes were wide and her mouth was open. Mommy’s wings flared out as Mommy began to back away from the swirling blizzard of white feathers.

“I do believe it is time for a new era of cooperation!” Celestia cried as she threw Twilight Sparkle at the problem. She watched as Twilight was sucked into the vortex and then was whipped around. Around and around the diminutive alicorn went, sometimes vanishing into thick clouds of feathers.

“All we need now is a bucket of tar and this could be the good old days,” Luna said as she stood calm, defiant even in the face of the storm. “Twilight Sparkle’s lackluster performance is disappointing.”

“I’m gonna throw up!” Twilight shouted from inside the vortex. After she spoke, coughing could be heard.

Giggling, Adora snapped her paw fingers a few times, trying to get the out of control vortex to go away. She snapped, snapped again, and then snapped once more. The rampaging wind storm went away, but not the feathers. The feathers began to drift down to the ground, falling like snowflakes. Twilight Sparkle landed with a plop in the middle of the room, still coughing up feathers.

“Very good Adora, you brought chaos under control,” Cadance said, feeling that praise was very, very necessary. Cadance looked at the mess all around her. The feathers were piled up several feet thick. There were pillows everywhere. The sofas were all missing their cushions. There was a large white alicorn with a maniacal grin and a gleam in her eye.

And in the center of it all, Twilight Sparkle coughed up more feathers.

“This looks like my handiwork,” Discord said as he stood in the doorway. He glanced around the room, watching as falling feathers drifted down and settled upon the floor. He was taking everything in, grinning. “I understand that you wanted to see me. I let myself in. I—”

Discord’s words died in his throat when he saw Adora. His eyes narrowed as he raised his lion’s paw to his chin and stroked it. He extended his talons, pointed one talon finger, and his lips moved but no sound came out.

“Daddy!” Adora pressed her paw and her talons to her cheeks and then squealed. She launched herself at Discord, moving at a full whomple, her body hunching up like an inchworm.

She hit an invisible barrier and was stopped. She bounced away, physically unharmed, but the expression of hurt upon her face caused the four alicorns in the room to suddenly look very, very dangerous.

“Discord, if you harm her, if you harm one hair on her body, I will end you,” Cadance said. Her wings spread out, her eyes narrowed, and she gritted her teeth.

“Oh please, not in front of the children,” Discord replied in a dismissive manner. He waved his paw and rolled his eyes. He ignored Cadance and the others and focused on Adora. He studied Adora, squinting his eye, and then glanced at Cadance before returning his manic gaze to Adora. “Well I’ll be. I am a daddy.” Discord’s demeanour changed, for a moment looking hurt and then his face became one of curiousity.

Reaching out, he placed his paw beneath Adora’s chin and tilted her head so he could look her in the eye. “This is unexpected. I’m sorry… I… I didn’t mean to hurt you if I did.” He ignored the alicorns staring at him. “I am just not the affectionate type I suppose.” Pulling his paw away from Adora’s chin, he patted her on the cheek.

“You’re not like the Daddy that I know,” Adora said as she began to sniffle.

“I suppose I’m not. The Daddy that you know exists in another when and where.” For a moment, Discord’s manner almost seemed affectionate, but also sad. The male draconequus shook his head. “Love… I’ve done just fine without it.”

“Daddy, I’m sorry,” Adora said as she drew herself up to her full height. Adora was much, much larger than her father.

“Sorry for what?” Discord asked.

“You told me to do this, and I always listen to my Daddy,” Adora replied.

“What?”

Discord’s red and yellow eyes went wide as Adora grabbed him. There was a worried cry from Cadance, a wordless shout of anger from Luna, and a growl from Celestia. Twilight Sparkle was charging her horn. Adora ignored all of this. She held her Daddy’s head in her dog paw and her talons, leaned forwards, kissed him once upon the nose, and then, with a brilliant flash of plaid coloured light, she touched her draconequus antlers to his.

Discord staggered backwards as Adora slumped down to the floor. He clutched at his chest, his eyes wide, and he shook his head. “No… no… no… no… NO!” The draconequus grabbed his own ears and tugged them. He let out a mournful howl. No one moved to comfort him.

Adora lay upon the floor, not moving, holding her own head, and moaning. Cadance, her movement’s swift, went to Adora’s side and tried to comfort her foal, whimpering, and trying to find out what was wrong.

“No… I didn’t need to learn how to love… I already loved… I… couldn’t… face… the pain!” Discord squeezed his eyes shut and his whole body shuddered. “I can’t love her… she’ll die… and I’ll… be… left… with… NOTHING!” Discord’s tail thrashed about. “No! NO! No!” The draconequus let out another howl of anguish. He stomped his green scaly leg and continued to tug upon his ears. “I let her go… I let her go! I let her go and she slipped away from me and I never told her… why was I so stupid? WHY?” Discord let out a heart rending shriek and opened his eyes. “Fluttershy!”

After saying his final word, Discord exploded. He vanished, leaving behind a room full of feathers, stunned alicorns, and one sobbing pink draconequus that clung to her pink alicorn mother.

“I’m sorry Daddy, I’m sorry… you made me do it!” Adora wrapped her forelegs around her Mommy’s neck and squeezed tight.

“Adora, do you know what just happened?” Cadance asked.

The pink draconequus shook her head. “No… I just did what Daddy asked me to do.”

Twilight Sparkle, looking sad, climbed out of the middle of the feathers. She went to Cadance’s and Adora’s side. “Poor Discord. He exists outside of harmony but not outside of love.” She kneeled down onto the feather covered floor beside Cadance and Adora. Closing her eyes, she leaned up against her sister in law.

“For some reason, I can no longer hate Discord,” Luna said as she approached Twilight, Cadance, and Adora. “He has done many terrible things, but no being deserves that sort of grief or anguish. Somepony should go and search for him.”

Celestia, standing in the middle of a storm of still falling feathers, let out a choked sob.

“I hope that Daddy will be okay… he made me do it… he made me do it… I’m so sorry.” Adora clung to her mother, not understanding what she had done, grief stricken that she had hurt her father.

“Adora, I know it seems bad right now, but I think you did a very good thing for your Daddy.” Cadance kissed Adora, trying to comfort her, and then closed her eyes. “I want to take you home. I want to take you home and make you happy.”

Silent, not knowing what to say, Twilight Sparkle began to make plans to help a friend. If Cadance could love the unloveable, Twilight knew that she could do no less. Discord needed a friend right now more than ever. She didn’t know what to do, but it wouldn’t stop her from trying. A friend was hurting and was off somewhere, all alone.

Spike and Shining Armor walked into the room, looking worried and confused. Shining Armor stopped at the door, but Spike continued forwards, running to Twilight Sparkle. Upon reaching her side, he stopped, stood there, and looked all around him.

“Did I miss something?” Spike asked.

Author's Note

An epilogue is coming. Soon.

Epilogue

Looking around Fluttershy’s cottage, Twilight Sparkle could see that her friend had been packing. A family of mice watched with solemn little faces as Fluttershy flitted about. Twilight, who had spent the past week piecing everything together, didn’t know what to say.

But that didn’t stop her from trying.

“Are you going to try and find him?” Twilight asked.

Fluttershy let out a soft sigh and nodded. “Yes.”

“Fluttershy?”

“What?”

“Do you love him?” Twilight looked at her friend and all she could see was Fluttershy’s back. She watched Fluttershy’s tail swish from side to side and then the pegasus dropped out of her hover. Twilight felt a catch in her throat and she fought back a shudder.

“I don’t know, Twilight. I’m not sure that it matters. I’m his friend. Perhaps his only real friend. He needs me. He’s hurting… he’s hurting real bad, please, don’t ask me how I know, I just do.” Fluttershy sank down to the floor, covered her face with her hooves, and then choked as she tried not to cry.

Twilight, who had been having a rough week in the aftermath of Adora’s appearance, went to her friend’s side, sat down beside her, and then threw herself over Fluttershy, wrapped her forelegs around the grief stricken pegasus, and pulled her close.

“If Princess Cadance can love the unloveable, perhaps I should do more to make friends with somepony that is very hard to make friends with,” Twilight said in a low voice as she stroked her friend and tried to console Fluttershy. “If I was to be totally honest about all of this, I haven’t done a very good job.”

“He’s very frustrating.” Fluttershy sniffled. “He does bad things. He’s very selfish. He can be very, very hard to be kind to… but I never stop trying.” Fluttershy rested her head against Twilight and closed her eyes.

“I’m coming with you. We’ll get Rainbow Dash to help us,” Twilight said.

“You would do that for me?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yes,” Twilight replied without hesitation. “In fact, I think we’ll all go. This is a friendship crisis. There is a lonely, heartbroken draconequus in need of friends. Perhaps this is a chance to break through to him and maybe make him better.” Twilight looked at the family of mice that were now watching her and could see them nodding their approval.

“Thank you, Twilight, this means a lot,” Fluttershy said in a low whisper.

Letting out a little sigh, Twilight realised that she was up for an adventure. There was more to life than books and study. There was a whole world that she wanted to see, and she wanted to see it with her friends. She patted Fluttershy and gave her friend a soft squeeze.

“I think that we should visit the Crystal Empire first and see if Adora knows any way of helping us find him.” Fluttershy opened her eyes, blinked a few times, and then sniffled her snotty nose.

Twilight found herself in agreement. “That would be a good place to start.”

Author's Note

The end.

That's all folks. A short, simple story. Maybe not so simple, but I wanted to leave parts of it to the reader's imagination. I wasn't in the mood to write another million word epic.