Love Is Never a Mistake

by kudzuhaiku


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.