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 Notes:

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.