A Winter Wishday Carol – Chapter Seven: It's Winter Wishday!

When Discord woke up, he found he was back under his blanket in his cave, with the morning light shining through the entrance. He felt bewildered, but also elated.

For a few seconds, Discord wondered whether it had all been a dream. He shook his head. It couldn’t be. The kiss he’d shared with Fluttershy still clung to his lips like the crumbs of a Winter Wishday cookie, and his nightgown continued to sparkle. And he was pretty sure that he caught the last glimpse of a spectral pink butterfly fluttering off. Fluttershy really had come to him during the night and taken him on that journey, he just knew it.

He threw the blanket off of himself and excitedly went over to where his animal companions were sleeping. He knelt down by them and tickled their tummies, causing them to open their eyes.

“It’s Winter Wishday!!!” he squealed enthusiastically. “Or Winter Wishhoofie! Or Winter Wishentine! Or even Winter Wishipalooza! Whatever you want to call it!”

His animal friends were stunned by his jubilant behaviour, but happy to see him in this state all the same.

Discord was too merry to think about whether to mourn Fluttershy first before getting on with everything else. Besides, he’d already mourned her when he’d been with her ghost. Now that all of his grief was out of the way, it was time to focus on the good times he had with her and the good times he was going to have with his friends.

“We’re going to meet up with the ponies and play games with them and celebrate the winter holidays with them!” he gushed while clapping his hands. “Reginald, get the comb! Hazel, get the ribbons! I need to get my hair game on point!”

Reginald grabbed a comb and started brushing Discord’s hair with it, while Hazel got to work tying up his goatee so that it didn’t get in the way. Reginald then scampered over to a collection of bits and bobs that he had, where he retrieved some stray tinsel and some holly leaves. Upon scurrying his way back to Discord, he proceeded to tie his master’s hair up with the tinsel into a low, loose ponytail, before decorating the top of his head with the holly leaves. Anyone else would have suffered a prickling pain from those leaves, but Discord barely felt them.

“Alright, climb onboard!” Discord happily called out as his animal companions climbed into his hair. “We’re off to celebrate Winter Wishday!”

He was out of the cave like a shot, sprinting as if somepony’s life depended on it. Down the hill he ran, cheering and whooping as his animal friends desperately held onto his hair so that they wouldn’t fly away in the process. Even though the snow lay thick on the ground, he breezed through it as if it hadn’t even snowed at all. At one point, he even did a forward roll in the snow before leaping up again with barely any effort and dashing away. Fortunately for his animal friends, they had buried themselves deep within his hair at the time.

Discord refused to stop running until he reached Maretime Bay. Once he arrived, he skidded to a halt and twirled around a bit in delight on the spot. Rather than being exhausted like anyone else would have been after running for that long a distance, it seemed that he was more energetic than ever.

Some ponies were rather surprised by this bombastic entrance of his, but they soon saw the endearing side of it. He didn’t take offense to their surprise either.

Remembering what he’d been shown last night, Discord thought it would be fun if he glimpsed through the windows of the houses he’d seen once again. He scurried over the first house and took a sneaky peak through the window. Yes, there was the earth pony with her partner and cats happily curled up next to the fire. Just like he remembered.

Discord was just about to sneak a glimpse in the second house when he caught a glance of a red earth pony with blonde way saunter past a few feet away. Sprout Cloverleaf, he’d been told his name was. Discord had heard all sorts of horror stories about him from his new pony pals. How he’d tried to stop ponykind from uniting on at least two separate occasions. The first time, Discord thought technically counted as attempted genocide.

Discord knew what he had to do. He bent down and scooped up a particularly large lump of snow and rolled it in his hands until it made a nice spherical shape. He chuckled a bit to himself, proud of his snowball, before swinging his arm round as fast as he coiled and launching his frozen missile towards his target.

The snowball smacked Sprout on the back of his head, causing him to nearly skid on the ice below him. He swiftly turned round, shaking lumps of snow out of his hair with a look of shock on his face as he tried to find who had targeted him just now.

He saw Discord right before him, innocently looking down and shuffling his feet with his hands behind his back and a small smile on his lips. “Did you throw that at me?!” Sprout angrily inquired.

“No no no, why would I do that?” Discord innocently replied. “I’m just a frail innocent old man. I would never be able to throw something with that strength and skill at all!” He picked up some more snow and rolled it in his hands, making another snowball. “Look, I’ll show you.”

He made a performance of pretending to aim his snowball terribly, but with the clever use of some magic, he somehow made it splatter on Sprout’s snout, causing the annoyed earth pony to sneeze a bit. Discord couldn’t help but giggle at this.

“So…Happy Winter Wishday!”

Though still annoyed with Discord, Sprout started to see the funny side of it. He started to roll up a snowball himself and swing it about in his hoof.

“Okay old man, you’re on!” he declared with a confident smirk on his face.

Discord was all too happy to engage in a snowball fight himself. He levitated some snow upwards and rolled them into two more snowballs that he confidently held in his hands.

True chaos broke out at that moment on Maretime Bay. Pony bystanders could only watch in surprise and even amusement at the sight of an elderly draconequus and a red earth pony chucking dozens of snowballs at one another at an increasingly fast pace. Sprout was a relentless sort, refusing to back down how many snowballs he got hit with. Meanwhile, Discord was using all sorts of nifty tricks and spells to hit his target, such as by teleporting the snowballs behind him and hitting him on the back of his head again in the process.

Phyllis Cloverleaf happened to be heading by at that point, but stopped in shock at the sight before her. “What is going on?!” she yelled out in alarm.

But then a mischievous smirk spread across her face as she picked up a snowball herself and aimed towards Discord, the missile smacking him on the shoulder. She wanted to make sure that her son had some backup.

“Hey, you can’t have two against one! That’s not fair!” Discord pretended to whine, but his chuckling gave away his true feelings on the matter. He always liked a challenge or two, and this would provide him with the perfect one. Besides, his animal companions had decided to back him up and were rolling some snowballs up from the snow on his shoulder, eager to return the attack.

They all continued to throw snowballs until eventually they collapsed on the ground, laughing with amusement while caked in snow. After Discord had managed to get some control over himself despite his high energy, he suddenly realised something.

“Oh, that’s right! I’m supposed to be meeting up with friends!” He hastily wiped the snow off of himself before turning to leave. “But this fun little snowball battle of ours has given me an idea!” He started to sprint off, but turned his head round to the Cloverleafs. “Enjoy the rest of your Winter Wishday!”

The Cloverleafs waved goodbye to him. “Enjoy yours as well!”

***

Meanwhile, Discord’s pony friends, plus Misty and Sparky, had gathered together in the same place Discord had seen them in when Fluttershy had shown him Winter Wishday Present. The conversation started out the same.

“I’m sorry, he won’t be here this Winter Wishday. I talked with him about him last night.”

“So he said he wasn’t coming?

“No. He said he didn’t like how ponykind seems to celebrate Winter Wishday separately. That it lacks-”

But this time, before Izzy could finish her sentence, a snowball suddenly landed next to her hooves.

“Huh?” she exclaimed, rather confused by this. The others looked on at bewilderment at where the snowball had landed.

And then utter shock as they looked up.

A whole barrage of snowballs came hurtling towards them at a high velocity. The group had no time to get out of the way as one by one, they got pelted with every snowy missile.

“Argh, not my hair! I spent ages working on it this morning!” Pipp screamed as Zipp grabbed some snowballs herself and aimed back at the source of the snowballs.

But as the snowballs weren’t hitting them too hard, the group started to see the funny side of it and started laughing, even Pipp.

At last the barrage stopped. The ponies were covered from head to hoof in clumps of snow and Sparky looked almost like a miniature snow dragon. They looked round rapidly to see where the snowballs had come from, until they finally spotted the mystery snowballer.

Discord was sitting on an entire throne made of snowballs, holding some more in his hands. He jumped off the throne to his feet upon being spotted and gave the group a wave.

“Yoohoo! Happy Winter Wishday! Happy Winter Wishhoofie! Happy Winter Wishentine!”

Izzy’s shock immediately turned into delight. “Discord! You came to celebrate after all!”

She dashed over to Discord and leapt into his arms as they hugged each other tightly, tears of joy streaming down their cheeks. The other ponies came trotting over, Sparky included, equally excited.

“Oh Izzy, I’m so sorry about last night!” Discord said as he continued to rock Izzy about in his arms. “But I’ve decided to spend time with you all this year! This is what Fluttershy would truly want!” He wiped a tear away from his eye with his eagle talon. “So, how are you all doing on this fine winter day?”

“We’re doing great! Especially now you’ve shown up!” Izzy responded, bouncing up and down with excitement. She slowed down after a bit, but then suddenly broke out into a few giggles. “Discord! You’re still wearing your jammies!”

It was true. Discord had been so overwhelmed with excitement and festive joy that he had forgotten to change out of his nightgown, which was still covered in sparkles, when he’d left his cave.

“Well, well, well,” he chuckled as he held up the skirt on the gown. “So I am!”

“I’ve got your present here too!” Izzy said as she levitated a giant parcel with blue wrapping paper decorated with pink snowflakes out of the sack she’d been carrying with her. Discord took hold of it and opened the paper up, making sure not to damage it in case Izzy had specially made it herself.

He couldn’t believe what he was looking at. It was an ice blue satin longcoat with white wool trimming the sleeves, neckline and coat tail. That was impressive in itself, but what really captured Discord’s attention were the decorations on the coat. There were the cutie marks of his old friends - a pink star representing Twilight, balloons representing Pinkie Pie, a rainbow bolt representing Rainbow Dash, red apples representing Applejack and jewels representing Rarity. There were the cutie marks of his new friends, plus Misty’s butterfly cutie mark. And most importantly of all, there were pink butterflies representing Fluttershy fluttering around each other cutie mark.

Discord couldn’t find the words to respond. He was too choked up to say anything and tears were blinding his eyes. He thrust his face into the coat and sobbed heavily into it, soaking part of it with the tears.

Izzy was gravely concerned. “Oh Discord, I’m really sorry. I thought that it would be a nice gift for you. I didn’t think it was going to upset you-”

Discord was still sobbing, but he broke out into watery chuckles upon hearing this. “Oh Izzy, you silly billy! I’m not upset at all! I’m delighted that you made me such a beautiful gift!” He swiftly swung the coat round and put it on himself, easily pushing his arms through the sleeves before happily hugging the coat round himself. “And it’s so cosy and fits so well! Oh thank you, thank you for such a wonderful present!”

He scooped the relieved Izzy up in his arms again for another hug. “And thank you for being such a wonderful friend.”

Izzy kindly got out a handkerchief and used her unicorn magic to wipe Discord’s tears away with it while she returned his hug.

Once his eyes were dried, Discord went over to Misty and Sparky, shaking hoofs and hands with them simultaneously. “I’ve heard quite a lot about you from Izzy and Sunny here, he said. He patted Misty’s head. “It seems that we have quite a few similarities with each other with how we started out!”

Misty grinned and blushed at the same time.

“So, now that you’re here, what shall we do?” Sunny asked with excitement. “Have another snowball fight? Build snow ponies?”

“Actually,” Discord began. “I was just thinking about that Power Pass game that Zipp invented that I got to play with you lot the first time round.” He turned to Zipp and playfully stuck his tongue out at her while winking. “Thanks for inventing a game that I’m good at, by the way.”

“However,” he added as he knelt down in the snow and started to roll up some snow. “I’ve been thinking that it could do with some improvements.” He smirked as he continued to roll up more snow and pat it into a spherical shape in his hand. “I mean, it’s a nice game and all, but it’s not very wintery, isn’t it?”

Zipp rolled her eyes in response to Discord’s bragging, but found herself smirking in return.

“So instead, we’re going to replace our usual ball with this large snowball here!” Discord said as he finished patting the snowball up and proudly held it in his hand to show everypony. “As usual, all magic is allowed, but you have to pass to every player on your team before attempting to score a goal, otherwise it doesn’t count. If you drop or damage the snowball in any way, the other team gets a penalty shoot out. Simple as that!”

“Great!” Pipp pumped her hoof with joy. “So who’s on which team?”

“I think it will be like last time,” Discord said as he picked up his animal friends and allowed them to crawl about in his hair and on his arms and hands. “You ponies and your dragon versus me and my animal squad.”

Everybody cheered and whooped in response to this. Everybody except Misty.

“But Discord,” she said with concern. “You don’t have as many team members.”

“That’s okay,” Discord replied with a mischievous smile on his face. “I’ve already decided that Izzy will be on my team as well.” And he proceeded to pick her up and ruffle her hair in the process, making her break out into giggles.

“Hey, no fair!” Sunny whined, but she was chuckling as well.

“So I guess that’s settled then,” said Zipp as she stretched her muscles in preparation. “All we need to do now is get this game started!”

“Nuh-uh!” Pipp retorted as she whipped out her cell phone. “First things first – we need a festive photo-op!”

Everybody gathered round as Pipp got the phone ready to take a group selfie, winking and grinning as she held the phone up. The resulting photo was perfect – the whole group was smiling and laughing together. And right in the centre of it all, with the biggest, warmest smile of them all, was Discord.

Once that was all done, the game could finally begin. Just like the first time he played it, Discord and his team took the lead easily. He even had a bigger advantage this time with Izzy on his team. But somehow, winning didn’t seem like the most important thing. For him, just being with his new friends having fun on Winter Wishday was enough.

***

When the game was finished, the whole group sat down in the snow, exhausted but happy.

Izzy turned to Discord, who was cuddling up with his animal companions. “So Dizzy, is there anything else you want to do today?”

“The problem is,” Discord replied. “I feel like I’d be spoilt for choice. Bridlewood’s Wishiehoof tree decorating seems like it would be good fun, and I hear that Hitch and his grandmother make some snazzy cookie cottages. I have some good ideas that I could help cook up.”

He turned to Pipp and Zipp. “And then there’s your Wishentine gala. Though something makes me think that you’re having your doubts about attending this year.” He said this with a mischievous tone, making sure not to let them know about what he’d seen last night.

“Yep! After that one year our mother made us perform for two hours? No way, no how!” Zipp immediately responded. She shuddered at the awful memories of it.

“Well, if you’re not going to attend, how about I take your place?” Discord suggested. “I know some good songs to get the crowd up and dancing - ‘Starmare’, ‘West End Mares’, ‘Equestrian Grass’, ‘Pinkie Pie Pony Club’,  ‘Pony Gangsta’.” Some of the ponies gave amused and bewildered side glances upon hearing these song titles.  “Of course, you need some festive ones too - ‘A Winter’s Tail’, ‘Every Day’s Like Hearth’s Warming’...”

“Careful not to exert yourself too much,” Hitch warned him. “We wouldn’t want you to burn yourself out and go back to how you were before.”

“Don’t worry about that!” Discord laughed reassuringly. “It's the first year I'll be trying them out, so maybe just an hour for each activity. And I’d only be performing at the gala for half an hour. I wouldn’t want to miss out on that Wishing Star that you like to see every year. Maybe we could look at it from the top of the lighthouse together?”

"That would be a brilliant idea!" Sunny responded.

"Besides," Discord continued with a bit of an emotional smile on his face. "I still want to honour Fluttershy this winter season, and I felt maybe I could show you some of the traditions we used to share with each other around this time of year."

"Ooh, like what?" a curious Izzy inquired.

"Well, one of my favourite things to do with her on Hearth's Warming Day was go for a morning skate on the frozen lake near Ponyville." Out of the corner of his eye, he could spot another lake in the distance with signs of freezing over. "Maybe we could all skate together?"

Some of the ponies were excited, some were nervous, but all of them were willing to give it a go. Upon noticing their positive responses, a satisfied Discord snapped his fingers and teleported them all over to the lake. Once they were there, he magically produced several pairs of ice skates for them all to wear.

Once everyone had their skates on, they all made their way onto the ice and began to skate around. There were a few wobbles and a few pratfalls, but even the less graceful ones were having a great time. Discord in particular pulled off some graceful twirls and jumps despite his age. He made sure to dance with all of his friends, even leading them into a magnificent group dance where they joined up to form a giant snowflake together that could be seen from the sky.

And the whole time this was happening, Discord felt a warm, comforting sensation wrapping over his body as he skated across the ice. The same one that Fluttershy's spirit gave him every time she was by his side. Adding to the the joy that he was feeling from being surrounded by his friends, this was the most blissful feeling yet. Discord smiled and gave a warm chuckle to himself, happy in the thought that Fluttershy must be by his side again, enjoying this day just as much as he and his new friends were.

THE END.

A Winter Wishday Carol – Chapter Six: The Future We Want

The scene faded into darkness once against, this being the last present Winter Wishday scenario that Fluttershy wanted to show him.

“Well,” Discord said, taking a deep breath as his previous elation gave way to another nervous feeling. “That’s the present you’ve shown me. I guess it’s time for the future now.”

“It is,” Fluttershy replied.

Discord felt his stomach twisting into knots. He remembered what had happened in the Hearth’s Warming story that Twilight had read. Snowfall Frost had been shown a dark future of what would happen if she got rid of Hearth’s Warming. Equestria had become a frozen, bleak wasteland due to the windigos making their way in. Was something similar going to happen here?

Obviously, he wasn’t trying to get rid of Winter Wishday. He’d already told Fluttershy that. Instead, it would just be him suffering rather than the whole of ponykind. Was he going to be all miserable and alone in his cave, not even paying mind to his animal companions? Would his new friends have eventually given up on trying to get him to celebrate with them and abandoned him to a life full of misery and regrets? Was something bad going to happen to them as well?

Before he had a chance to pour out these worries to Fluttershy, a new scene unfolded before them. The sky was a light yellow due to the sun just starting to set on the park that Discord’s friends were in during the present montage, and a flurry of snow was falling down. Discord’s friends were reunited once again and this time they were…laughing? Cheering? Having fun?

They weren’t feeling sad at all. In fact, they were as merry as they could be, jumping around in their winter gear. Izzy was squealing with delight and Sparky was rolling in the snow having the time of his life.

Discord couldn’t believe it. In fact, he felt his heart starting to splinter. Were his friends really celebrating without him? Had they truly given up on him?

He felt the tears coming, and he had no way of stopping them. He covered his face with his hands and started to sob pitifully.

“What’s the matter, Discord?” Fluttershy asked him with concern as she rested a hoof on his shoulder.

“T-they’re celebrating without me! And they don’t - they don’t even care!” Discord choked out, his voice heavy with sobs. “They’ve given up on me!” And he continued to weep into his hands as if his heart would break into pieces.

“Oh Discord,” Fluttershy chuckled kindly as she gave Discord a soothing hug and helped to move a lock of hair that had fallen in front of his face out of the way. “You jump to conclusions too quickly! Look behind you!”

Uncovering his face, Discord did as he was told, and to his amazement, found he was standing right next to a magnificent ice palace that towered over the ponies. Through his tears, he could make out a familiar figure standing at the top of it. To his further surprise, he discovered that the figure was in fact his future self.

He proudly looked down at the ponies, who were still squealing and whooping in exhilaration. He was wearing a gorgeous light blue dress that sparkled like snowflakes, with long baggy sleeves and a skirt that trailed on the ground. On his head he wore a stunning tiara made from icicles with a bejewelled snowflake perched at the top. His hair was tied back in a French plait and decorated with more tiny snowflakes.

“He’s here, he’s truly here!” Izzy cheered. “Winter Wishhoofie can truly begin!”

“‘Tis I, the prestigious ice queen of the winter holidays!” Discord announced grandly to the group below. “I see that you like my ice palace. I made it specially for this occasion.”

The ponies looked up at Discord with wide, eager eyes. Zipp smirked at him playfully. “Isn’t the ice queen going to get cold in that outfit?”

“The cold? Ha! The cold never bothered me anyway!” Discord laughed triumphantly while making a grandiose gesture. “Would you like to take a tour inside?”

“YES!!!” they all cried out in jubilation.

Discord proceeded to show them round the ice palace. Every room displayed was met with cheers of joy and squeals of excitement. There was a kitchen with a fridge and an oven, a dining room with a long table and a tasty looking festive meal laid out on it, a ballroom with a giant staircase leading to the top floors, a bathroom with a sink, toilet and bath that even came with an attached shower, and even a bedroom with a double bed and study desk. Yet every single piece of furniture, every piece of food, every extra decoration was made entirely from ice.

“I’m glad you love it!” Discord said with glee in response to the positive response that the palace was getting. “But that’s not all! I’m not a huge fan of going out the same way I came in, so I added a little something extra.”

Discord snapped his fingers at this point. The group was stunned to see slides made of ice start to form into existence from the upstairs windows. These weren’t regular slides either. They looped at least ten times before reaching the ground.

“Everypony knows that slides are the best way to exit any building!” Discord boasted. “Or if you're of a more easily nervous disposition, you can go back down the way we came. Whatever suits you.” He had a mischievous grin on his lips as he said the last sentence.

Of course, the group wasn’t going to refuse such a thrilling offer. Each of them started to rush over to the windows and get on the slides, screaming and yelling in joy as they shot down and did loop the loops before finally landing in a flurry of snow at the bottom.

Only Misty hesitated. Discord could sense her nervousness.

“It’s okay Misty, you can come down with me if you want!” he told her kindly. He picked her up and carried her over to one of the slides, climbing onto it while still holding onto her. She felt slightly less worried then.

“So, are you ready?” he asked her.

“I think I am,” she said, smiling back.

They proceeded to shoot down the slide together, cheering and hooting as they went down all of the loops before landing at the bottom and getting coated in snow together.

Everyone was laughing away as they sat in the snow, exhausted from the adrenaline rush but also happy to have experienced the ride down. At last, they were able to haul themselves up while still laughing.

"You really know how to make Winter Wishday extra special, Dizzy!" Izzy exclaimed as she rushed over to Discord and hugged him tightly.

“Oh, that’s only some of what I’ve got for you all,” Discord modestly replied, returning the hug. In fact, I was wondering if any of you would like to go searching for a winterchilla with me later on?”

“Ooh, a winterchilla!” Hitch gasped with delight. “What’s that?”

“It’s a small chinchilla that you can only find in the winter months. Rainbow Dash and I once found one to give to Fluttershy on Hearth’s Warming Eve. Of course, at night time they transform into gigantic winterzillas and can cause quite a bit of chaos, but I know how to tame the critters and I’m sure Hitch here will as well. Once they’ve calmed down, they’re some of the friendliest creatures you could ever hope to meet. Fluttershy absolutely adored hers.”

The ponies excitedly started talking to each other about this fascinating creature, with Izzy, Hitch and Sparky being the most excited.

“Actually,” Hitch announced. “Why should we wait ‘til later? We could go and search for it now!”

Discord was especially chuffed by this comment. “Excellent choice!” he said as he snapped his fingers and summoned a map. The ponies were still bouncing around enthusiastically.

“Well, what are you all doing just bouncing around like that?” Discord laughed. “It’s not going to find itself! Off we go! And if we’re quick enough, we’ll be able to see the comet when we get back!”

With that, the whole group headed off on their exhibition to find the winterchilla, all cheering and whooping.

***

The present Discord had invested his heart and soul into this vision, watching it with a tearful smile on his face and his hands clasped against his chest like when he was watching the fillies earlier. For a moment, he didn’t say anything, but he soon remembered that Fluttershy was right next to him.

“Fluttershy, I’m so sorry about my earlier assumption. I’m just not as confident as I used to be. But it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be at all. That scene was wonderful…” His tone then switched to confusion. “But is this really going to happen?”

Fluttershy smiled at him. “Well, it’s what I would want to happen.”

“What do you mean?”

“You see,” Fluttershy started. “You told me how you spent your Winter Wishdays mourning my passing on Hearth’s Warming Eve, because you thought that it was what I wanted. But in truth, it isn’t.” She looked downwards with a despondent look in her eyes. “In fact, it always broke my heart seeing you in such a deep depression around this time of year and not being able to embrace the holiday season like you used to do. In fact, it broke my heart in general seeing you mourn my passing and the state of Equestria over the years.”

She rested a hoof under Discord’s chin. “I’ve always been by your side Discord, but it hasn’t been easy to let you know that I am. You remember when you saw that voice call I left you? I was by your side on that day, but you didn’t see me back then.”

“No, but I felt something,” Discord wistfully replied. “It was a warm sensation, like a blanket.” It then dawned on him. “Actually, that wasn’t the first time I felt that sensation. I felt it a few times before, whenever I was especially sad about the world. That was you?”

“Yes, it was.”

“But then why was I unable to see you until now? Every night before Winter Wishday I wished to see you again, but it never came true before.”

“Well, wishes can be funny things,” Fluttershy replied with a wry smile on her face. “Sometimes they come true; sometimes they don’t. But when your wish finally came true tonight, I felt that I should make the most of it. And given the things that us spirits are capable of doing now, I decided that this was what I wanted to show you.”

She took a lock of Discord’s hair and twirled it round her hoof as she continued, all while he gazed back at her with tears glistening in his eyes. “Because the way I actually want you to honour me is by celebrating the good things that happened during this time of year, not lamenting the bad things. I’m still fine with you mourning me if that makes you feel better, but I don’t just want you to think about the sad times. I want you to think about the happy times too, and then find ways to bring the happy times to the present. To share the traditions we had with your new friends, and enjoy the traditions they have as well.”

Discord nodded with a humble smile on his face, finally understanding what Fluttershy meant. “You know Fluttershy, that’s actually a good idea. You always came up with those, and I’m glad to see that you still come up with them even now.”

Fluttershy blushed in response.

“Me, I’ve just been a real silly billy,” Discord sighed despondently. “I’ve been so hung up on your passing and ponykind’s divides that I didn’t let myself enjoy Winter Wishday like I could have done. In fact, I didn’t let myself celebrate the winter holidays at all. I refused to acknowledge it as Winter Wishhoofie because I felt it left draconequui like myself out, and I refused to acknowledge it as Winter Wishentine because it reminded me that I no longer had you with me. I just thought that if I only acknowledged it as Winter Wishday, it would feel like ponykind was truly united again.” The tears were prickling his eyes again. “But I had to be a real scrooge about it. I outright told my friends that I refused to acknowledge the other names, and even pretended to gag when I heard them like some immature brat so they wouldn’t get brought up. But even though Izzy called it Winter Wishday for my sake, I still insisted it was Hearth’s Warming.” More tears spilt out. “They didn’t deserve to be treated like that! Especially not Izzy! She’s a unicorn, so she should be allowed to acknowledge it as Wishhoofie if she wants to! But I didn’t let her! In trying to act like ponykind was unified again, I just divided myself from them. Oh Fluttershy, I’ve been a terrible friend!”

At which point a fresh wave of sobs arose and he howled into his hands once again, tears leaking through his fingers.

“Oh Discord, don’t cry!” Fluttershy reassured him as she carefully took his hands, uncovering his tear-ridden face. “Yes, you have been a bit silly, but grief can make us do silly things. And we have all done silly things before, even if we’re not grieving.” She gave him a cheerful smile. “Do you remember the stories I told you about all the silly things I’ve done, like when I took Princess Celestia’s pet phoenix without her permission because I thought it was ill? And, oh, probably my silliest moment of all, when on the night of the Grand Galloping Gala, I got upset because I thought that some animals didn’t “love” me and I chased them around while screaming-” For this, she put on a mock demonic voice. “YOU’RE GOING TO LOVE ME!!!”

Discord’s sobs instantly turned into watery chuckles upon hearing this. “You’re right, you did tell me about that! My, you really were a silly billy on that day! Thank goodness you’re not like that now!”

Fluttershy nodded. “But that’s the thing. When you realise that you’re being ridiculous about something, that’s when you can change. I’ve learnt from my mistakes, and I’ve seen you learn from yours many times.”

“Exactly,” Discord responded, putting a pause to his crying. “And I’ve learnt from this one too. I’m going to be a changed draconequus around Winter Wishday from now on!” He pressed a hand to his chest as he said this. “I’m going to let my friends use whatever name they wish for the winter holidays without pretending to gag. I’ll join in with their traditions and introduce them to some of my old ones. I’ll probably still mourn you at the beginning of the day, but then after that, I’ll remember the good times and enjoy the rest of what the day has to offer.”

Fluttershy smiled at him. “Excellent choice.” 

They smiled at each other for a moment, Discord absent-mindedly fiddling about with one of the buttons on his nightgown. Then Fluttershy gained a wistful look in her eyes.

"Well, it seems that my work here is done,” she said as she gazed round, pink butterflies starting to separate from her spiritual body. “There is nothing left for me to do but to head off."

But Discord wasn’t having any of it. In an agitated state of mind, he threw himself onto Fluttershy, grabbing hold of her and pressing his head against her as tears leaked from his eyes yet again. “No! No! Please! Don’t go!”

“I wish I couldn’t go, but the Winter Wishday magic is wearing off now. Soon, you’ll be unable to see my ghost form again.”

“But we still have so many things we haven’t talked about! So many things we haven’t done!” Discord struggled to get the words out amidst his choked sobs, but soon he was able to recover his voice. He looked up at Fluttershy with watery eyes and pleaded with a frail, tiny voice. "Please…just stay by my side a little bit more. At least until the end of the night."

“I’m afraid that is not possible. I could return next year, but we know how erratic wish magic can be.” Fluttershy proceeded to return Discord’s hug and allow him to softly nuzzle his head on her shoulder, letting his tears drip down onto it. “But I promise you that I will always love you. And I will always watch over you to see how you are doing.”

This helped Discord to feel slightly better. He gazed up at her as a watery smile spread across his mouth.

“I promise I’ll always love you too,” he said as he was finally able to hoist himself off Fluttershy and stand up, albeit still keeping a soft grip on her hooves. And I promise to embrace the festive spirit too, and life itself.”

They continued to gaze into each other's eyes while holding hands and hooves. The butterflies were still separating from Fluttershy’s limbs. Tears were still streaming down Discord’s cheeks, but he had a beaming, grateful smile plastered across his face.

“I will honour Winter Wishday in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. The same goes for Winter Wishhoofie and Winter Wishentine. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. Your spirit shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lesson that you have taught me.”

“I know you won’t,” said Fluttershy. She reached forward to gently wipe Discord’s tears away from him. Feeling her hoof against his face made him melt on the inside, closing his eyes and letting out a catlike purr with a childlike smile.

As she continued to wipe his tears. Discord started to pour his heart out some more. “You know Fluttershy, you’ve given me some good Hearth’s Warming gifts over the years – the cushion, the tea cosy, the ring…but even they can’t match up with the greatest gift you’ve ever given me. One that hasn't just been for Hearth’s Warming.” He took Fluttershy’s hoof and gave it a gentle little kiss as his last teardrop dripped down onto it. “And that gift is you. You’re my melody, my cinnamon roll, my spring morning, my Princess Charming, my knight in shining armour…I could go on.”

Discord then took the same hoof that he kissed and held it against his cheek with both of his hands, closing his eyes as he felt its warmth. “The point is, you’ve changed me for the better. Before we met, I didn’t think friendship was worth it, let alone love. As for kindness, I thought that was a joke. But you proved me wrong. You showed me that kindness was a strength, and that friendship and love were worth it. And thanks to that, I was the happiest creature I could ever be. Sure, the last centuries without you have been painful, but maybe that’s just a blessing in disguise, because I would much rather feel the joy of loving you, the pain and sadness of losing you and the relief of making new friends while still honouring you, than go the rest of my life still causing chaos and still feeling numb.”

“I guess you could say that you changed me for the better too,” Fluttershy replied. “I used to be incredibly nervous about new experiences and get scared easily. But not after becoming your friend.” She gained a sheepish smile as she glanced to the side. “Of course, part of the reason was due to your intense stubbornness that I had to deal with on occasion…”

“Oh come on,” Discord responded in a mock haughty voice. “We all know that my stubbornness is one of my greatest virtues!” But he cracked out a giggle after saying this.

“But maybe that’s what I needed. And above all, you showed me so many new experiences that I had never had before meeting you. All those crazy tea parties and adventures. And I hope that you get to change somepony else the same way you changed me.”

Discord beamed from head to feet upon hearing this. Any hint of melancholy that may have still been lurking within him fizzled away into nothingness.

He went back to holding both of Fluttershy’s hooves. “I know I said this once and I will say it again. You’re the greatest gift I’ve ever had. I would say that I love you to the moon and back, but it’s not enough. I love you much more than that. I love you…to infinity and beyond.” He giggled a bit at this goofy little phrase. “Yes, that’s right. I love you to infinity and beyond…and even further than that.”

Fluttershy had a beaming smile on her face as she heard this. “You know what? The same here. I love you to infinity and beyond and further than that as well.”

They chuckled merrily at this exchange, before closing their eyes and nuzzling their heads together while still holding hands. Discord still couldn’t stop smiling. He felt so much love and happiness at this moment in time, it seemed as if it might last forever and that he might never feel any sadness again.

"Thank you for everything," he whispered to Fluttershy softly.

"The same to you too."

With this, they proceeded to embrace with their eyes still closed as they shared a passionate kiss on the lips, one that felt as warm and soothing as a mug of hot chocolate. Red, green and silver sparkles swirled around the happy couple with a chiming sound like ringing bells. Discord felt bliss overwhelm him completely and his heart filled with lightness and joy. His hair fluttered up as if it was caught in a light spring breeze and sparkles started to rain down on his nightgown.

As the kiss came to a finish, Fluttershy’s spirit finally separated into several tiny pink butterflies that proceeded to surround Discord, giving him one big unified hug. Discord contently wrapped his arms around himself as if he was hugging them in return.

“Goodbye Fluttershy, my beloved. Until we meet again.”

At last, he felt sleep take hold of him and his eyelids drooped shut as he slipped into a peaceful slumber. The butterflies were ready to catch him to stop him falling, and they proceeded to pick him up and carry him off into the night sky back home. Discord’s eyelashes fluttered just like the butterflies’ wings as he slept on while resting his head on his hands, smiling at the wonderful dreams he was having of him and Fluttershy celebrating the winter season together in the past, present and future.

A Winter Wishday Carol – Chapter Five: Winter Wishday's Present

They weren’t in pitch darkness anymore. This time, Discord and Fluttershy were standing on the top of the lighthouse in Maretime Bay. Around them, snow was falling down as ponies below happily cheered and went on their way.

Discord had read in a postcard from Izzy that one Winter Wishday, there had been an especially strong blizzard. Apparently, the unicorns had accidentally activated it with an old spell they thought was just a simple festive greeting, meaning that places normally not associated with cold weather like Maretime Bay were getting caked in snow. Fortunately, Sunny and friends had found ways to stop the spell. This snowfall was nowhere near as bad though. Maybe the unicorns had decided to use the spell to bring it back but were being more careful this time?

It was nice seeing the ponies having fun from above, but Discord wanted to take a closer look, as did Fluttershy. He took Fluttershy’s hoof and leapt off the top of the lighthouse with her.

Any jump like that would have severely injured a normal pony without wings, but not them. Instead, they flapped their wings about to slow down their descent, before softly landing in the snow. Then they got to work exploring the area and looking in the windows of the houses.

In one of the windows, an earth pony was curled up by the fire without any decorations inside the room. Likely one who didn’t like to celebrate it much, Discord thought. However, instead of being the grumbling anti-festive type that one would expect, he was surprised to notice that she was happily snuggled up with her cats while drinking hot cocoa. Another earth pony came in together and they snuggled up with each other, watching the flames dance and crackle. The cats meowed softly.

Discord was reminded of how Fluttershy used to avoid Nightmare Night. Instead, she would stay at home and read stories under the bed with her animal friends.

In another window, a mother pony and her son were happily baking cookies together. In the same room, a picture of the two ponies with an adult male pony, likely the father, hung on the wall next to the window. The mother gave it a wistful smile briefly, before getting back to baking and laughing with her son, who was getting very excited about putting chocolate chips into the mixing bowl and had poured in more than necessary.

This one got Discord a little teary-eyed. Here was a pony who’d lost her partner like he had, and yet was still choosing to celebrate the day anyway with her remaining loved one.

Discord and Fluttershy reached a third house. Here, a ginger-haired earth pony with freckles covering her whole face had just taken a whole batch of cookies out of the oven. The smell spread through the air, and she smiled warmly at how wonderful it was. As she set them down on the table, there was a knock at the door.

Discord almost started. He hadn’t realised that a white pegasus with black hair with a purple streak in it had been standing next to him clad in black trying to get in. The earth pony opened the door.

“Come in, Midnight!” she said eagerly as the pegasus took off her beret and scarf and left them on hooks in the hallway. “Yeah, leave them there and come into the kitchen!”

Midnight entered and gasped in amazement at the cookies on the table. Some had snowflakes, some had holly berries and some had shooting stars.

“Oh, Icing Sugar! They look amazing!” She reached for one and immediately took a bite, the crumbs coating her black lipstick. “And they taste just as amazing too!”

“Thank you!” Icing Sugar responded. “So, how’s the shopping trip been going?”

“Not great,” Midnight sighed. “There wasn’t anything that good in store. But I did find some good craft materials.” She opened up a satchel that she’d been carrying with her the whole time and handed Icing Sugar a gorgeous painting of snowflakes falling down in a moonlit forest, with the frame decorated in ribbons and rhinestones.

“You made that with the craft materials?”

“Yep, all of it!” Midnight replied. “So maybe the shopping trip wasn’t so bad after all!”

“It’s brilliant! Thank you so much!” gushed Icing Sugar as she took the painting in her hands. She went over to one of the walls and hung it up, proudly gazing at it once she was done.

“You noticed that it’s been snowing again this year?” she inquired to Midnight.

“Yeah! The unicorns probably brought it back with that spell. Honestly, I wish that we had experienced snow beforehand. Then we would have been able to appreciate it more.”

“Speaking of unicorns, you know Marshmallow S’more?”

“Yeah, what about her?”

“Well, the unicorns do a Secret Canter for their Wishiehoof celebrations, so I decided to get in on the fun myself.”

Discord remembered that Wishiehoof was what the unicorns called Winter Wishday, while the pegasi called it Wishentine. He’d refused to acknowledge that though before tonight. All it had done before was yet again remind him of the divides between ponykind. Izzy had acknowledged that, despite knowing it as Wishiehoof herself.

“So…” Icing Sugar said while blushing. “I left her a secret batch of cookies outside her door, and I so hope that she likes them. If she figures out I’m the one who left them, great! If not, I still think that it will make her holiday.”

“Oh, she’ll love them, for sure.” Midnight responded with a grin. “You know how much she adores her sweet treats.”

Almost as if on cue, Discord suddenly found himself teleported away from this scene in a flurry of sparkles. Instead, he found himself outside Marshmallow’s door in Bridlewood as she opened it up and found the parcel on her doorstep.

Curiously, she opened it up. To her delight, she discovered that she had received several cookies with hearts in different shades of red and pink icing sugar sitting pretty on top of them. Next to them was a message saying “Happy Wishiehoof from a secret admirer!”

She giggled excitedly as she dashed out of her house while still carrying her box towards a giant tree in the middle of Bridlewood. Several unicorns were surrounding it, getting ready to decorate it with all sorts of ornaments. They were laughing and chatting away, excited to be carrying out an important tradition of theirs.

A pink unicorn with bright red curls, similar in shape to Pinkie Pie’s, was bringing out a box of baked goods when she caught sight of a grey earth pony with orange pigtails hurriedly dashing through the snow while carrying a bag in her mouth. The earth pony skidded to a halt and dropped the bag out of her mouth while panting in exhaustion.

“Well, that was quite a mad rush from you, Snail Mail!” the unicorn chuckled. “Here, these cakes should give you some energy back.”

“Thanks,” Snail Mail was finally able to utter while still panting, taking a cupcake decorated to look like a plum pudding that the unicorn handed to her. “Speaking of which, Cherry Bakewell, I’ve brought these cookies for you.”

She handed the bag to Cherry, who eagerly reached in and was delighted to be looking at a cookie decorated with a white snowflake made from icing sugar in her hoof.

“Oooh, thank you!” she cooed enthusiastically before biting into them. “Mmm, mmm, these are so yummy! Do you mind if I share the cookies with some of the unicorns here?”

“Sure, go ahead!” Snail Mail replied with her mouth full of cupcake. “Your cakes taste delicious too!”

“And while you’re here, do you want to help decorate the tree with us!”

“Yeah! If you don’t mind!”

Though some unicorns were wary, others were more accepting. One of them even passed a glittery horse-shaped ornament over to Snail Mail that she hung on one of the tree branches. Cherry grinned as she clapped her hooves.

Discord wondered if Cherry was some sort of descendent to Pinkie. They seemed to have quite a few similarities - their hair styles, their baking skills, their cheerful demeanour…the only main difference being their species. Maybe somepony in Pinkie’s line of descendents had married a unicorn, or maybe it was like with the Cake family and two earth ponies had just managed to give birth to a unicorn. Either way, Discord couldn’t help thinking how wonderful it would be if Pinkie and Cherry could meet each other and share baking tips with one another. They would get along well for sure.

While he was pondering over this matter, the scene changed again in another flurry of sparkles. Now he and Fluttershy were in Zephyr Heights, inside a magnificent room with a stage.

It was the Winter Wishentine gala that the pegasi held every year. Discord hadn’t always been a big fan of galas themselves. He often found them to be a bit too formal for his tastes, so he’d always tried to make them a little more exciting with his chaos. Not all of the ponies had been happy with his antics, though Princess Celestia had always found them amusing for some reason. That said, he did love to socialise with his friends at these events, and especially with Fluttershy.

It seemed to be the same here. Pegasi were dressed up in fancy clothes and either dancing or sitting with drinks glasses. Queen Haven, whom Discord had been told was Pipp and Zipp’s mother, was talking to her guards.

“They just won’t come this year,” she tutted. “They say they’re too busy with friends. Even when I changed the schedule for the gala to nighttime, they still couldn’t come.” She glanced warily at a giant ornate jukebox on the stage. “How is this supposed to be a good replacement for them performing for our guests anyway?”

Discord chuckled at the queen’s expense, knowing fully well that she was talking about her daughters. Looking back at the room, he rolled his eyes at how stuffy it all seemed, but then something caught his eye. He turned round and looked on with excitement and hope over what he was seeing.

A brown unicorn with white curly hair in a bob cut and a holly hairclip nervously crept through the entrance while wearing a sleeveless yellow dress with sparkles on the skirt. She caught a glimpse of the green pegasus with pink curls tied up in a wavy bun adorned with white lilies, and wearing a silver minidress.

“Um, Rocky Road? Hi there,” the unicorn said while shyly waving a hoof at her.

Rocky Road turned round, and gave an overjoyed gasp.

“Figgy Pudding! What are you doing here?” she asked excitedly.

“I, well, I just wanted to see how you were doing.”

“Did you get an invite too?”

“Um, yeah,” was Figgy’s quick reply.

“Well, as long as you’re here, I know I’ll be having fun tonight!” Rocky Road said, grinning as she took Figgy’s hoof and led her to the dancefloor.

It was like what happened in Bridlewood. Some of the pegasi gave Figgy suspicious glances, but others were more welcoming. She and Rocky Road proceeded to twirl about on the dancefloor together before leaning together for a romantic kiss.

Everypony else seemed to be having a good time too despite Figgy’s surprise appearance. Some were dancing as well, while others just sat at the tables, talking to each other and dining on fancy food and drinks. A couple of pegasi got overwhelmed by all of the noise and chatter, so they headed off. Discord and Fluttershy followed them outside.

When the couple were finally outside, they could get a glance of the moon together in peace, smiling up at it. They too kissed each other on the lips, with Discord just managing to catch a glimpse of this.

Watching this, Discord closed his eyes and thought back to when he used to dance at Canterlot’s Grand Galloping Gala with Fluttershy and her friends. He remembered wearing his flashy orange tuxedo and top hat as he swirled around the dancefloor with Fluttershy while she wore the most splendid dresses imaginable. One resembled a peacock, another one reminded him of a forest waterfall, all of them were beautiful. Then they would go outside together to look up at the moon and stars, before gazing into each other’s eyes and then…

“I’m sorry, he won’t be here this Winter Wishday.”

Discord was taken by surprise by the sound of nervous chattering behind him, causing him to open his eyes. He turned round and soon found himself in the same field he had played his first game of Power Pass in. Strangely enough, it was broad daylight again. Time just seemed to be going back and forth without rhyme or reason.

The field looked unrecognisable under the blanket of snow, but what wasn’t unrecognisable was the circle of ponies in the middle. He recognised this group immediately. It was Izzy and the rest of her friends - Sunny Starscout, Hitch Trailblazer, Pipp Petals and Zipp Storm. There were some new faces there too - a blue unicorn with lavender ringlets and a baby dragon. Discord had been told by Izzy that they were named Misty Brightdawn and Sparky Sparkeroni respectively.

Unlike the other ponies he’d seen, they didn’t seem to be in the festive spirit at all. Instead, they seemed anxious and even despondent.

“So he said he wasn’t coming?” Sunny asked.

“No,” Izzy replied meekly, shaking her head. “He said he didn’t like how ponykind seems to celebrate Winter Wishday separately. That it lacks the same meaning of unity that Hearth’s Warming had.”

“He said all this before!” Zipp exclaimed, throwing her hooves up in the air in frustration. “Everytime the holiday gets brought up, he keeps going on about how Hearth’s Warming was so much better because ponies celebrated it together but now each species of pony has different traditions!”

“Except that’s not true!” Sunny started. “My dad Argylle used to tell me all sorts of stories about Hearth’s Warming. About how everypony had their own traditions while still celebrating the core ones. Some ponies exchanged gifts on Hearth’s Warming Eve while others waited until Hearth’s Warming Day. The ponies that worked on the rock farms used to have rock soup-”

“Urgh!” was Pipp’s disgusted reply as she stuck out her tongue and winced.

“-And they would carve Hearth’s Warming Dolls out of rocks. Other ponies would crotchet the dolls instead. Even with the raising of the flag on Hearth’s Warming Day, whoever raised it in each family changed. In some families, it was the youngest. In others, they had scavenger hunts and the winner of them would raise the flag.”

“It’s nostalgia that does it,” Hitch said morosely. “He’s so hung up on the differences between Hearth’s Warming and Winter Wishday that he can’t figure out the similarities.”

“He’s also still sad he can’t celebrate it with Fluttershy, isn’t he?” Misty inquired.

“I asked him that,” Izzy responded, “and he claimed he wasn’t. But I think he is.”

“Even though he has new friends to celebrate it with now?”

“There are probably traditions he had with her that he can’t celebrate anymore. That’s why he thinks it will be better not to join in with any new ones.”

“Either way, he’s missing out!” Pipp complained. “We could have had snowball fights with him, built a snow draconequus with him, played Power Pass with him in the snow! It could at least distract him from his depression for a while!”

“And we rarely get to see him at any time of year, let alone Winter Wishday!” Sunny lamented. “He’s been travelling all over the world for the past few years to find himself, and then when he returns to Equestria, he still stays in his cave. It just scares me to think of how lonely he is there! And it’s not always easy to reach those caves either!”

“If he wants to mourn, I guess we’ll let him,” Izzy said, a sad smile on her face. “I don’t want to force him into anything if it will just make him more miserable. I still want to give him his gift at some point though.” She glanced at the bag she had with her as she said this.

“I would still love to meet him though,” Misty said. “You told me that he can be a bit sour, but deep down he’s a big softie.”

“Yeah,” Izzy replied, with a slightly more sincere grin. “Discord’s great. He’s like the big brother that I’ve never had. And sometimes like a little brother as well.”

“And an uncle figure too,” Sunny added.

“Come on, let’s take a group pic together,” Pipp said with a cheerful tone, albeit one that didn’t seem entirely right. “Then we can discuss more on the matter later on and see what we can do.”

They all smiled together as the photo was taken, but Discord could tell that the smiles were forced. In their eyes, he could sense a strong feeling of wistfulness, as if they knew that something was missing.

A pang surged in Discord's heart. He felt truly bad to see them this way, feeling despondent over his situation and him not being there to celebrate with them. He was also touched that despite his crankiness towards Izzy, she and the others still considered him a friend and were willing to compliment him. Thinking about it caused his eyes to prickle and he sniffled slightly.

However, just then the sound of cheerful laughter grabbed his attention and distracted him from the group. Now he was seeing a group of fillies happily playing in the snow. This was a different field though, with conifer trees in the distance.

Some of the fillies were engaging in a playful snowball fight together. A pastel pink earth pony with a birthmark on her face and a tangerine pegasus with blonde curls were up against a lilac unicorn with a striped horn and a turquoise earth pony with orange freckles. They threw snowballs in any way they could - at each other’s cutie marks, at each other’s hooves, but never so hard that they hurt each other. Every time a filly was hit and splattered in snow, they would all start giggling away until finally they all collapsed in the snow, too busy laughing to continue.

Another group of fillies, consisting of a cherry red pegasus, a lime green earth pony and a candy pink unicorn were busy building a snowpony together and were almost done. It was just as big as a real pony, if not bigger.

The group looked at their finished work in delight, but the earth pony looked unsure. They then got some more snow and placed it onto the sides of the pony, smoothing it out until it resembled the wings of a pegasus almost perfectly.

“There! Now it’s finished!” they said with a chuffed grin.

But now it was the pegasus’ turn to not be happy with the result. “No no no, not like that!” they exclaimed quickly, before they got some more snow and shaped it, placing it on the pony’s head so that it resembled a unicorn’s horn.

“A snow alicorn!” the unicorn cheered.

Part of the horn crumbled off, leaving half of it behind. The fillies didn’t mind though. In fact, they all giggled together.

“Maybe it’s an alicorn that lost part of its horn in a great battle against evil, but doesn’t let it hold them back and still protects Equestria from those who dare threaten it!” the unicorn said as she merrily bounced up and down.

“Yeah!” the other two responded.

“So, does it have a name?” asked the earth pony.

“How about Princess Snowflake?” suggested the pegasus.

“Great idea!” cheered the others, as they all started bouncing and giggling around the snow alicorn.

Discord watched the fillies playing together with an emotional smile, holding his hands to his chest. A single tear welled up in his eye and dropped down onto his lion paw, leaving a small splash resembling a snowflake on it.

“Now that’s a sight that warms the heart,” he said in a dreamlike tone. He then felt the tear on his paw. He lifted it up to see it.

“Well, would you look at that!” he told Fluttershy as he happily gazed upon it. “Just like a snowflake!” Fluttershy got a closer look at it too.

At that moment, Discord noticed that more snow was starting to fall from the sky. He looked up and paid attention to each snowflake gracefully tumbling down.

“Fluttershy, it’s just like you said!” he proclaimed with delight, turning towards her. “Every snowflake is unique and special. Just like ponykind.” He started pointing at various ones. “Look, that snowflake there is different from the one falling next to it. And that one is more of a spherical shape than the hexagonal one above it!”

Something about seeing these snowflakes made Discord feel like a child again. He stuck his tongue out to see if he could catch any of them on it, but as these were merely shadows of what could be and he was but a spirit like Fluttershy in this realm, they simply passed through. Even when he held out the skirt on his gown to see if they would collect on it, they vanished through the material as if it was just thin air.

A thought then planted itself in Discord’s mind, and he courteously held his hand out to Fluttershy. She let him take her hoof and he began a spritely dance with her, twirling her round under his arm and then holding her close to his chest as he spun around on the spot, the snowflakes surrounding them and whirling around in perfect synchronisation with their moves.

They continued dancing until they came across a frozen pond, and then Discord decided to take it a step further. He did a little leap onto the ice and started to glide across it, still continuing to spin around with Fluttershy in his arms. He even swung her out while holding her hooves, being careful not to accidentally let go of her and send her flying. Her hair whipped about in the wind as she gave him an excited smile and he grinned in return.

When they finally danced their way off the ice, they brought their dance to an end, Discord giving Fluttershy a curtsey while holding the skirt of his gown and Fluttershy giving him a modest bow while blushing.

“You remember, don’t you?” Discord said. “We used to sometimes dance on the ice together on Hearth’s Warming Day.” He blushed a bit while smiling, twirling a lock of his hair around his eagle talon. “I’m surprised I’m still able to do the moves we used to do back then.”

He took Fluttershy’s hooves as she fluttered up toward him. They said nothing for a moment, simply gazing into each other’s eyes and holding each other’s hands with smiles on their faces. However, the silence was broken by the sound of nearby voices.

“Come on Willow Herb, we can’t be late for the Wishing Star!” said one cream coloured earth pony cheerfully, dashing through the snow as if it had never held them back before.

“Okay, okay, I’m coming, Custard Pie,” Willow Herb, an earth pony with conifer green ringlets and pink fur, replied with an exasperated smile as she struggled to keep up with her energetic friend.

“It’s a good thing that the snow’s starting to settle down a bit,” said a pale blue unicorn with dark purple hair wearing a pink scarf and matching earmuffs. “It means that we get to see the comet more clearly.”

It was late sunset now. Either time had skipped forward like with the previous visions, or Discord and Fluttershy had been dancing for so long that they had lost track of the time completely. It wasn’t a big deal though. What was a big deal to Discord was these two earth ponies and one unicorn uniting for an earth pony tradition together.

With a sense of curiosity, Discord decided to see where these ponies were heading off to in order to see the comet, with Fluttershy by his side.

This particular group of ponies had made their way to the outside of the Maretime Bay lighthouse, where several other earth ponies were converging.

“This is your second time viewing the star, isn’t it Magenta Cloud?” Willow Herb asked the unicorn.

“Yep,” was Magenta’s satisfied reply. “I loved watching it so much last year that I decided to come and see it again.”

Custard Pie couldn’t stop bouncing away. They were so excited over what they were about to see whizzing across the sky.

“Hey guys!” called a mint green pegasus with pink and blue striped hair and wearing a red scarf, flying over as she spoke before coming to land. “Hope I’m not late for the Wishing Star!”

Willow Herb seemed surprised by this appearance. “You came too? We thought you’d be at your gala!”

“Nah, it’s not really my thing. Too formal for my liking.” The pegasus looked up at the sky in wonder. “Besides, you only get to see this once a year.”

“Want a cookie to keep you going while we wait?” Custard Pie asked, holding one out for her. “You are called Cookie Crumble after all!” They glanced at her chocolate chip cutie mark as they said this.

“Ooh, don’t mind if I do!” Cookie happily responded as she took the cookie and bit a large chunk out of it. “You never fail to make good ones, you know that?”

“Well, my name is Custard Pie, and baking is my talent.” They proudly glanced at their custard pie cutie mark as soon as they said this.

“Okay folks, we need to keep a good eye out now,” called Magenta. “Let’s not get distracted by anything in case we miss the star going pass.”

The group talk ceased then as the ponies excitedly gazed up at the sky, waiting for the comet.

At long last, the Wishing Star arrived. It whooshed between the other stars, the brilliant gleam of it standing out against the darkness of the night sky. It was Discord’s first time seeing it, and it didn’t fail to impress him. He loved the idea of riding it across the stars, getting glimpses of space up there. He held his hands to his chest as he closed his chest and made a secret wish, before getting back to looking at the ponies watching the comet with him.

The majority of bystanders were still earth ponies. There were only a couple of unicorns and pegasi among the crowd. Yet there was still a sense of unity. Nobody seemed to be out to cause trouble, or giving dirty looks to ponies of different races. Instead, they watched the comet in pure joy, wide genuine smiles spreading across their faces.

“It’s not perfect. It could be better,” Discord thought to himself, a small smirk on his face. “But it’s good enough for now.”

A Winter Wishday Carol – Chapter Four: A Private Moment

As he saw that harrowing scene fade into darkness before his eyes, a nauseous feeling came over Discord in the present. His limbs started to tremble and he felt himself on the verge of fainting as he nearly stumbled backwards, his hand pressed against his cheek.

Fluttershy realised what was going on, as she caught Discord and held him upright.

"It’s okay Dizzy, it’s over now," she reassured him.

Discord wasn’t soothed by this though. In fact, now he felt a new wave of emotion come over him – one of anger.

“What did I tell you?” he inquired furiously as he swiftly turned towards Fluttershy, tears prickling his eyes. “I said not to show me that last flashback, and what did you do? You went and showed it anyway! Everything was going so well before that!” An impulsive thought suddenly crossed his mind and he pointed an accusing finger at her. “You were trying to torture me, weren’t you?!”

“No, I would never do that,” Fluttershy responded with concern. “I just wanted you to acknowledge something. Is your disdain for Winter Wishday in the present only to do with how it differs from Hearth’s Warming…or is there another reason, as you just saw there?”

Those words stabbed through Discord’s heart like a blade. His rage increased.

“Wha-I mean- HOW DARE YOU!!!” he screamed at her, angry tears streaming down his cheeks. “How dare you read me like that! You’re supposed to be the Element of Kindness! How could you be so cruel?! I HATE YOU!!!”

He stopped after his last three words, his anger dissipating.

“Actually…no…I don’t. I don’t hate you at all,” he said nervously, glancing to the side and twiddling his fingers together.

Discord feared that Fluttershy would have taken his previous words seriously and become just as upset as he currently was. But instead, she gave him a sympathetic smile before throwing her arms around him, taking him in for an embrace that literally brought him to his knees.

“It’s okay, I know you don’t,” she soothingly whispered. “I’m sorry if I hurt you.”

Any shreds of fury that remained within Discord completely melted away as sadness overwhelmed him completely. More tears spilt out of his closed eyes as he returned Fluttershy’s embrace and buried his face within her hair, sobbing uncontrollably in a childlike manner. Fluttershy stroked his hair in response, letting him weep as much as he wished until his sobs finally became less stormy. Eventually, those sobs faded out altogether and he was left simply rocking from side to side while still holding Fluttershy and still shedding tears.

“Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear,” Discord sighed as he took hold of his hair and absent-mindedly wiped his tears away on it. “Look at me. I used to be a proud king of chaos, and now here I am, crying like a filly lost in the supermarket.”

Fluttershy gently patted the top of his head. "It's okay, don't worry about it." She then took the same chunk of hair that Discord had wiped his tears with and twirled it round her hoof.

"Oh, my hair," Discord said, mustering a watery smile at the sight of Fluttershy caressing it. "You always said that other ponies talked a lot about how long and soft yours was. You didn't seem to be that bothered about it but I obviously felt it looked beautiful. I still get angry about that story you told me about the obnoxious fillies that claimed you used hair extensions."

More memories came back to Discord as he chattered on. "Do you remember how I used to love combing your hair for your and putting it up in all those fancy hairstyles? Of course, you always said your favourite one was the looped ponytail with the bluebell scrunchie, since that's the one you first wore on your wedding day. I gave you that scrunchie as a wedding gift. I thought it would mean more to you than an old-fashioned ring."

He continued to talk as Fluttershy sat behind him and stroked through his hair for him. "So when you passed on, I decided that I wanted to honour you any way I could. And one of the ways was growing my hair out to be like yours. Sure, I'm not quite able to grow mine to the point it touches the ground when I kneel like yours did, but I think I managed to get it the same length. And I think it looks pretty good in white. Better than my original hairstyle would have done."

"It's just like a winter blizzard," Fluttershy told him.

"Thank you," Discord replied. He felt himself start to get a bit emotional again. "And when I find myself particularly missing you, I sometimes stroke it until it feels like I'm combing your hair again. I don't feel so alone then."

Another teardrop trickled out of his eye as he said this. He then turned to Fluttershy.

"Fluttershy," he said, taking a deep breath. "I know you're showing me all this to get me to appreciate the Winter Wishday spirit. You already showed me the past, and then you'll show me the present and future. It'll be like that Hearth's Warming Carol story that Twilight Sparkle was obsessed with." He struggled to keep his composure slightly as he said this. "You know, the one about that grumpy unicorn Snowfall Frost. She hates Hearth’s Warming due to her sad past and so she tries to stop it from happening. Three ghosts make her change her mind. She ends up appreciating Hearth’s Warming. Everypony’s happy."

“I remember it well.”

“But I don’t think you understand,” he continued, his voice still frail and wobbling. “It isn’t the same with me. I’m not trying to stop them from celebrating. I’ve learnt my lesson from the time I tried to take away their magic. I’m just sad that I can’t celebrate it with you. I want to honour your memory, and it feels wrong to celebrate if you’re not here. I should be allowed to mourn you. Isn’t that what you would want from me?”

He realised that he sounded a bit whiny and self-entitled saying this, which made him feel some shame. Fluttershy didn’t seem to have any problem with it though.

“I know you’re upset,” she said as she took Discord in for another hug and he rested his head on her shoulder. “But there’s something you may not understand either. Of course you have the right to mourn me, I’m not going to stop you from doing that. But your grief and longing for the past has made you forget certain things. Like how ponies always had their own traditions back when Hearth’s Warming was still a thing - it isn’t just a thing that started when Winter Wishday arrived. And how happy you were every time the winter season arrived and how you were content to celebrate it with the others as well as myself.”

She rested a hoof on Discord’s cheek and lifted his head to meet her gaze, giving him a reassuring smile. “And that’s why I’m going to show you the present and future next. So that you can have some more understanding of what you’ve been missing out on in the present day and have an idea of what I want your future to be like.”

Discord gave her a warm smile back, tears glistening in his eyes like the sparkles on Christmas lights. He still felt some sadness, but Fluttershy’s smile was helping him to feel happier.

“You know,” he said with the same tearful smile after taking a moment to regather his thoughts. “You may have a point. I think I’m ready to keep going.” He wiped the last of his tears away.

Fluttershy nodded contently. "Okay then. I'm glad you're feeling better now."

Discord reached out for Fluttershy's hooves and held them in his hands. A bright pink light flashed around them in an instant, and the dark void around them proceeded to vanish into another snowy day.

A Winter Wishday Carol – Chapter Three: Hearth’s Warming’s Past

They weren’t in the ruins of Canterlot anymore. They were standing right near Ponyville next to a giant frozen lake.

Discord initially thought that Fluttershy had done some magic to make Ponyville appear again, but he soon realised that she was right when she said that she was taking on a journey through time.

"How is it possible that you did that?" he asked her. He still couldn’t believe that Fluttershy had been able to time travel with him now when she had never had that ability before.

"Well, us ghosts have some interesting powers we never had when we were alive," Fluttershy replied, letting out a sheepish giggle in the process.

Discord was in for a further surprise. There, at the far end of the lake, was himself. To be exact, it was his younger self from before his hair had grown long and turned white. He was confidently skating around in a smart-looking ice skating outfit, the same one that he’d worn when he’d tried and failed to blackmail Fluttershy when she first befriended him.

Fluttershy’s younger self came trotting up to the lake in her purple jumper and flower-patterned earmuffs, carrying a crocheted pink bag in her mouth. She put the bag down next to the lake before calling out.

"Hello, Discord! Happy Hearth’s Warming Day!"

"Fluttershy!" Discord happily responded. "I didn’t expect you to be out and about this early. “You care to do some ice skating with me?"

"Well," Fluttershy said nervously. "I’m not sure if I would be that good at it…"

"It’s okay, I can teach you!" And with that, Discord snapped his fingers, causing a bright light to emit from Fluttershy.

To Fluttershy’s surprise, she found that he had transformed her clothes into an elegant figure-skating outfit, consisting of a pastel blue dress with long frilly sleeves, sparkles on the skirt and a pink butterfly on the torso, along with light pink ice-skates. Her hair was done up in a curled bun with ringlets delicately dangling downwards, tied up with a wreath made of bluebells.

"Why, I-" she stuttered as she looked at her sleeve in shock.

"Why Fluttershy, you look amazing, if I do say so myself!" Discord exclaimed proudly.

Fluttershy shyly smiled as her cheeks flushed bright pink.

"So, are you ready to begin?" Discord asked, smiling down at Fluttershy.

"Um…I guess so…" she said bashfully as Discord proceeded to take her hoof in his hand.

At first, Fluttershy was a wobbly skater due to her nerves getting the better of her. However, Discord was able to gently encourage her and she found her confidence improving. In time, she could skate gracefully with rarely a stumble and without Discord having to hold onto her so much.

At this point, Discord decided it would be a good idea for them to dance together. He proceeded to lead Fluttershy into a majestic ice skating routine. First he twirled her under his arm and then spun her round him. Then he proceeded to lead her across the ice as they performed several leaps and spins in synchronisation. It all culminated in him lifting her into the air and spinning her around at an incredible speed before taking her into a finishing pose, with him kneeling on the ice and her leaning backwards across his knee.

Fluttershy was rather flushed after this, but incredibly thrilled. "Thank you Discord," she barely managed to utter out in her exhilaration. "I never expected to have so much fun!"

"My pleasure," was Discord’s modest reply.

Fluttershy suddenly remembered why she was there in the first place. "Oh Discord, I’ve brought you a present. You know, for Hearth’s Warming Day."

"Hmm," Discord responded somewhat wearily. “To be truthful, I’ve never really celebrated Hearth’s Warming before. It was all about harmony and you know that I wasn’t into that stuff back in the day. I did enjoy playing pranks on the ponies celebrating it every now and then…"

Fluttershy excitedly cut in. "Which means that this will be your first time celebrating it!" She reached into the bag and pulled out a pink parcel wrapped in a blue ribbon. "Here you go!"

Discord opened the parcel without much fanfare, but was soon stunned to see that his gift was a beautifully crotcheted green cushion with him and Fluttershy laughing and having fun together on it while surrounded by pink butterflies. Underneath it, sewn in pink, was the phrase “Best Friends Forever”.

Fluttershy beamed up at Discord. "Do you like it?"

Discord felt a lump in his throat and tears well up in his eyes. He quickly wiped them away so that Fluttershy wouldn’t see them. "It…it’s beautiful. Thank you very much."

Fluttershy almost squealed with delight.

"Of course, I sadly haven’t prepared a gift for you…" Discord said with some disappointment.

"No no, it’s fine, really, it is-"

"No no no, I need to return the favour to you after such a well thought out present!" Discord got to thinking, scratching his head. "Now, what to give you?"

It felt wrong to simply summon a gift with magic when Fluttershy had put some much time and effort into hers. So he decided to scamper around and find if there were any materials in the snow he could use. Eventually, he found a pine cone, a small shiny pebble, two mismatched buttons and two brown leaves left over from the autumn. He summoned a tube of glue and quickly got to work fixing them all together.

"Ta-dah!" he said when he’d finished it, presenting a handmade bunny figurine to Fluttershy.

"Awww, it’s so cute! Thank you so much!" Fluttershy squealed with great sincerity. Discord breathed a sigh of relief.

While holding her figurine, Fluttershy fluttered up into Discord’s arms and gave him a tight hug while nuzzling her head against him. Though he was a little surprised by this at first, he soon felt a warm smile spread on his lips as he lovingly looked down at her, and he proceeded to return the hug and gently cradle her as she continued to happily nuzzle against him.

***

The scene faded into a new one before the present day Discord’s eyes. This time, he and Fluttershy were inside Twilight’s castle with the rest of the Mane 6 and Spike, along with Princess Cadance, Shining Armor and Flurry Heart. Twilight was singing a song for them all.

Discord remembered this Hearth’s Warming very well. It was the year that Fluttershy and her friends had done a secret gift exchange. Well, they’d attempted to. On the bright side, Pinkie had enjoyed Twilight’s strange pudding that she’d made for her and Spike had sung a beautiful song that Rarity had loved. Best of all, Discord, with a little bit of "help" from Rainbow Dash, had managed to get Fluttershy a present she adored - a winterzilla. Though it had caused some chaos in the castle earlier on, she had managed to calm it down and now she was happily cuddling it.

"Strange, I feel there should have been more of our friends here," Discord muttered in the present. "Wasn’t Starlight part of our friend group? Along with Trixie and Thorax? And I remember Spike and I hanging out quite a bit with Big Mac as well."

"Starlight felt a bit nervous about big festive gatherings," Fluttershy replied. "So she and Trixie spent Hearth’s Warming together. Thorax celebrated it with the rest of the changelings. And Big Mac celebrated with Sugar Belle and the Apples and Pies. They all had their own Hearth’s Warming traditions, you see."

"Oh," Discord responded. He suddenly felt a bit silly over his earlier rant about Winter Wishday.

They continued to look on as their past selves continued to listen to Twilight’s singing. While Discord was merrily bobbing along to the tune, Fluttershy gained a mischievous smile across her face as she reached out for a box that she had secretly brought along with her, before offering to the surprised Discord.

Discord was excited to see what Fluttershy’s gift was, and he was even happier when he saw it with his own eyes. It was an elephant tea cosy that she had specially made for him. Well, it was supposed to be an elephant. It looked more like some unusual mishmash creature made from grey scraps. But for Discord, that was even better. He loved unusual-looking things like this.

He was taken by further surprise when Fluttershy suddenly reached out to give him a hug. Once his surprise had quickly died down though, he contentedly returned the hug.

Everypony else began to join in with Twilight’s singing, with Spike strumming away on the guitar. Fluttershy decided to join in too, while Discord was simply happy to listen to it, like Cadance’s family were doing.

***

The scene faded again, and Discord and Fluttershy found themselves back at the frozen lake from the first flashback. It was sunrise, and a pink glow spread across the sky.

In this flashback, Discord and Fluttershy were just finishing off their skating. Discord was wearing the same ice skating outfit as always, but this time Fluttershy was wearing a sparkling emerald green frock with pink butterflies decorating the skirt and a gold flower embroidered on the top right of the torso. Discord was skating across the ice while carrying Fluttershy, before gently placing her down and taking her hoof as he spun her around him. When she finally came to a stop, they both courteously bowed down to each other.

"This has to be my favourite tradition of ours," Discord said. "Or at least one of them."

Fluttershy nodded in approval.

"But our next tradition is also a great one," he grinned, snapping his fingers and summoning a small blue parcel decorated with pink butterflies. "So, did you get me anything exciting?"

"Well…" Fluttershy smiled shyly as she walked over to her pink bag from the first flashback and pulled out another small parcel with pink wrapping and bluebells decorating it. "It took me some time to figure it out, but I was thinking about how we’ve spent so much time together and made so many memories. I wanted to make sure that this would be a gift to remember too."

Discord blushed in return, a small wobbly smile on his lips. "I was thinking the same thing. We’ve both had many fun times together and I wanted to find you a gift that showed you how much those meant to me…" He felt a little too nervous to continue so he just passed his gift over to Fluttershy. She in turn passed hers to him, feeling equally timid.

They hurriedly opened the parcels to find small yet ornate boxes inside covered in tiny jewels. When they opened their respective boxes, they were amazed to discover what they were. Discord’s gift from Fluttershy was a beautiful golden ring with bluebells engraved onto it and a small butterfly gem stuck on to complete the look. Meanwhile, Fluttershy’s gift from Discord was a golden bracelet with the exact same design.

"Will you marry me?" they asked in unison as they first caught glimpses of their gifts.

Upon realising what had just happened, they went into stunned silence, turning as red as holly berries. However, elated smiles started to spread across their faces before they then lunged towards each other, Discord embracing Fluttershy in his arms and Fluttershy hugging him right back. Tears of joy streamed down their cheeks.

"I will! I will! I will!" they both squealed together, laughing and crying at the same time.

***

The sight of this warmed the present day Discord’s heart, but now the scene faded into a fourth flashback. Here, Discord and Fluttershy were outside Fluttershy’s cottage, decorating a tree together in the snow with Fluttershy’s animal companions looking on with curiosity. The sun was setting in the sky, which was starting to turn a light purple.

Fluttershy was now much older, with age lines starting to appear under her eyes. Her hair was tied up with the bluebell scrunchie her spirit form continued to wear, and she wore a knitted blue and pink striped scarf. Despite her older age though, she seemed to be full of the same energy that she had when she was younger. In fact, she was now carrying herself with a sense of grace and confidence that she had rarely had before.

"You know, I’ve never really been into some of the more extravagant decorations," she said to Discord as she reached into the box of decorations next to them and hung a pine cone decorated with paint to look like a cheerful robin up on one of the tree branches. “"The expensive glittering baubles and the flashy Christmas lights. I prefer to keep things simple." She placed a small carved white pony with a red coat on another branch.

"I get your point," Discord responded as he picked out a decoration resembling the tea cosy that Fluttershy had given him all those years ago and placed it near the top. "They’re a little too bland for my liking. I want something more unusual and personal."

Some of the animals decided to have a go at helping with the decorations. A red squirrel picked up an acorn decoration with red ribbon attached to it and scampered up the tree to place it near the tea cosy decoration. Meanwhile a grizzly bear took a chain made from small carved birds and did its best to wrap it round the tree as neatly as possible. It did end up looking a little scruffy, but Fluttershy playfully giggled in response to this and Discord gave it a thumbs up of genuine approval.

At last, it was time for the decoration to sit on the top. Discord took out a medium-sized pink butterfly with small glittering stars on its wings. He and Fluttershy had made this one together the day before. Discord had initially planned for it to be an incredibly large size with different Hearth’s Warming patterns decorating the wings, but Fluttershy had wanted something smaller. Ultimately, they had come to a compromise on the final design.

They placed the butterfly on top of the tree together, with Fluttershy fluttering upwards in the process. Once it was on top, albeit at a slightly jaunty angle, Discord snapped his fingers.

The butterfly proceeded to flutter its wings about and fly around in small circles around the top of the tree. The bird-themed decorations started to sing a light-hearted Hearth’s Warming tune. The chain let out a soft glow with shades of red, blue, green, silver and gold, which stood out even more next to the twilight sky.

The animals looked on in amazed silence, but Discord and Fluttershy simply watched with content smiles on their faces.

"It looks wonderful," Fluttershy said with a happy sigh. "I always love seeing what you bring to Hearth’s Warming."

"Thank you," Discord replied, his cheeks turning slightly red. “You know, this may be one of my favourite times of the year.”

"The same here," Fluttershy responded. She looked up at him with shining teal eyes. "Happy Hearth’s Warming, Dizzy."

Discord lifted Fluttershy up into his arms as they exchanged smiles. "Happy Hearth’s Warming to you too, Fluttershy."

With that, they closed their eyelids and shared a passionate kiss on the lips as Discord stroked his fingers through Fluttershy’s hair. The animals continued to gaze at the tree in awe.

***

Discord had been watching all of these flashbacks with a warm feeling inside. These were some of the best Hearth's Warmings that he ever had the pleasure of experiencing.

But then, as he was watching his past self and Fluttershy go back to looking at the tree together, his smile changed into a small frown. There was one Hearth's Warming that he remembered well...but for all the wrong reasons. It was the first one that he would think of whenever Winter Wishday arrived, and remembering it would dominate his whole mind for the rest of that day. And then another worrying thought sprang to mind. It had been nice that Fluttershy had shown him these memories, but it all seemed to be similar to a certain story that her friend Twilight had loved to read on Hearth's Warming Eve. Something about a pony being shown her past, present and future by some ghosts, with a sad backstory for her being shown. Was Fluttershy going to do the same here and show him that awful moment from their past together?

A tense feeling started to spread in his chest. No, he couldn’t see this again.

"Well Fluttershy, I think that’s a good place to stop," he said nervously to Fluttershy, trying to muster a grin. "Thank you for showing me all of those memories..."

"There is one more thing to show you."

"No, Fluttershy, please! That's a good place to stop! We don't need to see anything else!"

But even as he begged, the scene changed. In this one, Fluttershy was lying in bed with Discord sitting by her side. Tears were welling up in his eyes as he looked down at her despondently. However, despite her looking exhausted, Fluttershy still had a smile on her face.

"Nobody told me this would happen," Discord finally said, his voice trembling.

"But surely you already knew?" Fluttershy inquired. "You've been around for thousands of years. You would have seen ponies pass on and new ones come to take their place."

"I know, but it's not the same. I never knew those ponies personally. You're the first pony I've ever truly cared about." He felt the tears trickle down his face as he let out a sigh. "I just want you to make it to Hearth's Warming Day. You can't die tonight. Especially with the state Equestria is in at the moment."

"You're still concerned about Equestria?"

"Yes!" Discord responded with great agitation. "Equestria's falling into disharmony and even Twilight doesn't seem to know what to do about it!" He furiously wiped some tears away from his eyes. "I just want your last day here to be in a peaceful Equestria, like the one before all this ridiculous magic talk."

"There is some good news," Fluttershy reassured him. "The tension between ponykind does seem to be dying down. Two days ago, I saw an earth pony and a unicorn chatting with one another like old friends, and then they allowed a passing pegasus to join in with the conversation too. Besides, ponies have often bickered with one another before and they've been able to sort things out. I think it will all be fine."

Discord rolled his eyes. He always did this when he felt sceptical.

"I saw that," Fluttershy gently chuckled with a smirk on her face.

She hoisted herself up a bit in her bed. "That said, I understand your concerns on the matter. That is why I've recorded a message for you. When I'm gone, find it and watch it. I think you'll find it very helpful."

"That was the message that those ponies brought to me," the present day Discord said. "I was shocked that they were even able to find it."

Back in the past, Fluttershy turned to the window. "Look at the snowflakes out the window, Discord. Don't they look beautiful?"

Discord gently lifted Fluttershy out of the bed and cradled her in his arms so that she could have a look too.

The snowflakes tumbled down like spinning little ballet dancers, contrasting with the dark blue of the night sky. Discord could barely make out how many of them there were. He guessed around a hundred, but he was pretty sure that there could be more. Or at least that’s what it seemed like.

"If you look closely, you’ll see how unique each snowflake is," Fluttershy told him. Each one has its own shape and pattern to distinguish it from another. That’s what makes them so wonderful."

Discord nodded in response, a lump filling his throat.

"And it’s the same with ponykind too. Each species has its own attributes and magic. And each pony has their own cutie mark and talents. Just like snowflakes. Both wonderful and unique."

Discord put on a brave smile. "So you're saying that I shouldn't be worrying about all of these differences?"

"Exactly. I want you to accept them and just keep working harder for a more harmonious Equestria, without the belief that our differences lead to disharmony."

"Okay then," Discord said. "I'll try." He gazed lovingly into Fluttershy's eyes. "Anything for you."

They tenderly kissed each other on the lips. It was a bittersweet kiss, but it made Discord feel somewhat better. After the kiss, Discord went back to gazing at the snowflakes while Fluttershy happily snuggled up in his arms with her eyes closed.

“You’re right Fluttershy,” Discord said cheerfully while looking out the window. "The snowflakes do look wonderful. And it would be nice to enjoy it tomorrow. Go ice skating together on the frozen lake while they surround us. You’ll be fine with that as long as I carry you around on the ice, right Fluttershy?" Upon her silent response, his tone became more worried as he looked down at her. "Fluttershy?"

He got no reply. Fluttershy’s body had gone limp in his arms.

"Oh Fluttershy…" Tears welled up in Discord’s eyes again and started to stream down his cheeks as he held Fluttershy even tighter. "Please, wake up! Not before Hearth’s Warming Day! We haven't even properly said goodbye!" He buried his face in her hair and continued to weep.

"Who will I be able to have all those tea parties with now?"

A Winter Wishday Carol – Chapter Two: A Surprise Visitor

In truth, it wasn’t just the disappearance of Hearth’s Warming and Winter Wishday taking its place that made Discord feel bitter. Sure, he was technically right in saying that he had managed to recover somewhat from Fluttershy’s passing, but every winter it was the same – he would be reminded that he no longer had her to celebrate it with. Not that he would acknowledge that though.

Sometime after Izzy had left, and he had settled his animal companions down for their night time sleeps, he felt like it was time that he should take to bed too. The winter season made him feel especially drowsy and his talk with Izzy had just made it worse.

Discord had set up his own sleeping space next to Reginald and Hazel. It was a knitted pastel blue blanket with pink butterflies on. An old Hearth’s Warming gift. It was a little bit ratty, but he still liked to tuck himself under it every night.

Before he settled himself down though, he decided to make one wish. It was the same one he made every night before Winter Wishday, and it had never come true. Of course it hadn't. The whole wish thing was nonsense, and Discord knew it. Still, it wouldn't hurt to keep trying.

Discord held his hands against his chest with his eyes closed. "I wish to spend this winter with Fluttershy again."

He sighed. It all sounded so ridiculous. How was he going to spend winter with her when she was long gone? Was she going to suddenly burst out of the cave flooring and crawl up like a zombie? The thought made him shudder slightly.

Discord pulled the blanket over himself and lay down, in the same gruff mood he had been when talking to Izzy earlier. He had already made up his mind. Like he’d said to Izzy, he’d stay in for the whole of Winter Wishday. In fact, he would probably sleep for half of the day too. He had no interest in anything festive or that required him to leave his cave.

As he closed his eyes to drop off to sleep though, he found that he couldn’t. Something was keeping him awake. It was like a slight pink glow. Initially, he stubbornly refused to open his eyes, simply turning the other way to try and get away from it. But the glow still followed him round. And when he turned back to where he was originally facing in the hopes that this would work in getting rid of it, it followed it again.

Eventually, he relented, grumbling as he opened his eyes and hoisted himself up to see where this mystery glow was coming from.

Right next to him was the recognisable figure of Fluttershy. Or at least a spirit version of her. The pink glow continued to emit from her body, with small spectral butterflies and cherry blossoms fluttering around her. Her hair is still in the same looped ponytail that she had worn in her later life, tied up with a bluebell scrunchie that Discord had given her on their wedding day and she had kept ever since. She looked towards Discord with a gentle smile on her face, her teal eyes sparkling.

For a moment, Discord didn’t know what to make of this. “F-Fluttershy?” he uttered out in surprise.

“Hello Discord,” Fluttershy replied warmly.

Discord didn’t know how to respond at first. But then he shook his head and quickly gathered his thoughts together. No. It couldn’t be her. He was probably imagining it.

“No, it can’t be you,” he abruptly said. “I’m probably hearing things as well. Either I’m dreaming or I’m having a grief-induced hallucination.”

“I mean, if you believe so,” was Fluttershy’s calm response. She didn’t seem too bothered by Discord’s refusal to believe what he was seeing. “But I’ll think you’ll find that if you take my hoof, that isn’t the case.”

“I’ll take it, and it’ll prove that I’m just seeing an illusion,” Discord said, still stubborn in his thoughts.

However, when he did reach out for her hoof, he was shocked to discover that he could indeed feel it. Well, he could feel a warm sensation at least. And then to take things further, Fluttershy got her other hoof and used it to stroke his hair, even lifting up a lock of it in the process.

Discord felt a lump form in his throat. “It’s you, it’s really you…” Tears welled up in his eyes, which he quickly brushed away with the sleeve of his nightgown while turning his head away in case Fluttershy spotted them.

Once they were gone, he turned back to face her, an emotional smile on his face. “My wish came true. You’ve come back Fluttershy. You really have come back.”

“Not exactly,” she replied. “You see, I’ve always been by your side all this time. It’s just that I haven’t always been able to make my presence clear.”

But now Discord’s mind was whirling with thoughts on what to do now that Fluttershy truly was here. There were so many things they got to do across this time of year beforehand, and he desperately wanted to revisit those times.

“How about one of our tea parties for old time’s sake?” he babbled excitedly, snapping his fingers and summoning a pink picnic rug with butterflies on it, along with two tea cups and a plate of sandwiches placed on top. “

“That’s a sweet thought,” Fluttershy replied, glancing to the side with a sheepish smile on her face. “But that wasn’t what I had in mind.”

“Oh come on,” Discord muttered with an annoyed tone, snapping his fingers and making the tea party disappear again. “I thought you liked tea parties.”

“I do, I do,” Fluttershy said. “It’s just…I was actually planning to take you on a journey.”

“What kind of journey?” Discord’s brain started whizzing with ideas once again. “Is it to Tahiti? Coltlantis? The far reaches of space?”

“No, across time.”

Discord wasn’t sure what to make of this. He’d taken Fluttershy and the Cutie Mark Crusaders on a time travelling trip in his time machine in the past, and it had been a lot of fun. Sure, there was that awkward encounter with Anubis, and then the unfortunate incident where the Cutie Mark Crusaders nearly got snatched away by a giant bird, but they had all gotten to see a butterdragon in the end, so it was all fine. However, it had been a long time since he’d used the time machine, and his summoning magic had declined over the years.

“I mean, sure, that sounds very nice,” Discord said with a sad smile while twirling his goatee round his eagle talon. “But I’m afraid that I can’t summon that old time machine like I used to.”

“We won’t need it.” Fluttershy held out her hoof. “I just need you to give me your hand and we’ll set off.”

Discord did as he was told, albeit cautiously. He stood up, letting the blanket fall off him. Before he could figure out what her plan was, Fluttershy started to lead him towards the cave entrance. Her wings were starting to flap.

“Are we really going to start flying?” Discord asked nervously. “My body’s frail and I’m not as good at flying as I used to be…”

He didn’t get to finish. He and Fluttershy immediately lifted off into the snowy skies, still holding hands. Fear filled Discord from within as he immediately grabbed hold of Fluttershy’s waist and wrapped his arms round it, under the horrific impression that he was at risk of falling and dashing himself on the ruins of Canterlot below.

After a while though, he started to enjoy it. The snowstorm had turned into a gentle snowfall and the moon shone brightly in the sky. He was also amazed that Fluttershy could fly this well. When they’d first met each other, she lacked the same flying prowess as other pegasi. Either she’d managed to improve over time or ghosts could naturally fly well.

Time seemed to fly past as well, turning from night to day. Eventually, Fluttershy flew down towards some pine trees frosted with snow and came in to land. Confident that she wasn’t going to let him fall, Discord let go of her waist and took hold of her hoof again as they readied themselves and gently landed in the snow together on their feet.

Fluttershy turned to Discord. “Do you recognise this place?”

Indeed Discord did, but he couldn’t respond. He was too amazed to make words come out.