//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Love Is Never a Mistake // by kudzuhaiku //------------------------------// 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!”