One of the things I've wanted to do for a while, inspired by such things as EQD's Artist Training Grounds and the art of Piper Thibodeau, is to create a draconequus or chimera character, mostly for the sheer challenge of doing so.

Plenty of other writers have made their own AU draconequi (draconeuuses? draconequodes?) from R63 Eris, IDW's Accord, and numerous offspring of Discord shipping. There's also the "concept" theme, where if Discord is a creature of Chaos (supported by the Discordant Harmony episode), and ponies can represent the Sun, Moon, Love, and Friendship, then what other eldritch creatures can be represented?

At Discord's introduction, Cheerilee describes him as having the head of a pony (although it arguably looks rather goat-ish) and the body of all sorts of things. The word "draconequus," coined by Lauren Faust, is derived from the Greek drakon and the Latin equus, dragon and horse respectively. A traditional chimera has a lion's head, a goat's body, and a snake tail, although they are often depicted with the heads of all three creatures as well. Another definition of a chimera is an imaginary monster containing incongruous parts. The latter definition would imply that a draconequus is a type of chimera, sentiments echoed by the MLP Wiki.

Is Discord unique? It certainly seems like a paradox either way: on one hand, you have a creature that looks like a whole bunch of things, but yet always keeps the same appearance despite being able to look like anything. Note that when he has no magic (when drained by Tirek and nullified by Chrysalis) he doesn't suffer from any involuntary shapeshifter crisis tropes, so the form we see is his natural state. Genetics would imply that his parents (if he has any) would have similar traits, but again, it conflicts with the whole chaos theory. Is he a draconequus because he has pony and dragon parts? If another draconequus were to exist, must it contain those parts, otherwise it is "merely" a chimera? Other draconequi I've read about over the past five years do tend to have those as a minimal standard... the limbs may change, but a true draconeuus must at least have the head of a pony (as specified by Cheerilee) and some part of a lizard.

Trying to assemble one is a bigger challenge than it appears to be on paper, too. I have something in mind, but since I don't want it to have an equine head, I think that disqualifies it from being a true draconequus.

Oh, and this isn't intended as a "I need help" post, but more of a discussion starter.
So... what are your thoughts?

Keep in mind what Cheerilee says is entirely debatable depending on her knowledge of the race. Perhaps ponies have never SEEN a different kind and assume that is how it must be? I think as long as it contains some equine and some lizard/dragon it would qualify. I wouldn't doubt his link to chaos is also associated with his race due to the intentionally jumbled parts. If this is true, then the part setup would "likely" be chaotic as well leading further evidence that the head portion does not have to be equine and that the overall body just must contain equine and lizard/dragon parts. My reasoning for the minimal requirement is the name itself, although that would be questionable if ponies had only ever seen Discord.