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.