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?"