See You Again

by taterforlife

Rating: teen
Tags: Romance, Fluttershy, Discord, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe
Length: 5512

Fluttershy and Discord were always connected...They just haven't remembered yet.

Fluttershy and Discord were always connected...They just haven't remembered yet.

But they will. They always will. And they'll never say goodbye.

*Beautiful coverart by someyellowpony. Go to her tumblr to see more of her amazing work!

**inspired in part by Hubert the Butterdragon and the hit song "See You Again" by Wiz Khalifa. Because the fictional comic character and the celebrity singer that will never read this deserve credit where credit is due.

Published 2015-09-13 23:00:02 UTC
Last updated 2015-09-13 23:00:02 UTC

See You Again

Author's Note

It's been a long day without you, my friend
And I'll tell you all about it when I see you again
We've come a long way from where we began
Oh, I'll tell you all about it when I see you again
When I see you again

--Wiz Khalifa, "See You Again"

See You Again

The storm started with a scream.

The sound itself should have been enough to set off her natural instincts. Any other sane creature would have flown away or scurried off.

But not her. She was different.

It was a storm like no other. There were no clouds involved; the heavens had nothing to pour from above. The thunder was that of screaming, of hooves stomping against the ground. The lightning was no arrow of Zeus, no electrical shock cutting through the air. Instead, it was the burning of what seemed like a thousand eyes, all glaring with fury at the creature running for its life.

Her wings seemed to shiver instead of flap, unable to stay still, clapping closed, shuddering open. Clap, shudder. Clap, shudder. Clap, shudder.

She recognized the large group of creatures, some of them holding torches and pitchforks, others with glowing horns, and each of them as angry as a scorned Fury.

The one in front was a creature she had never seen before. It was a tiny little thing, running on all fours, huffing and puffing and sweating and panicking. It had two little nubs on it’s forehead, one a twisted and glistening icy blue, the other a common antler. How fascinating; she’d never seen a creature with two different horns before. And the nubs--it must have been a child.

But the multicolored group of hoofed quadrupeds... Those were seen all around the land, and she could easily differentiate the difference between the mature and the young. To her surprise, these four-leggeds were chasing a child!

Her delicate, translucent wings fluttered in panicked concern. She should fly, leave this place! This was not safe, she was on the ground, right in their path! Why couldn’t she move?

But her eyes were fixed on the young mysterious creature running for his life. His eyebrows seemed like caterpillars, fluffy and white and fat. His limbs were of all different creatures, though which ones exactly she could not tell. His tail was like that of a dragon’s, with a tuft of white at the very end.

But his eyes... It took her a moment to realize that they were not flowers, but eyes. So bright, red like zinnias, yellow like daffodils! Beautiful...but so full of terror, panic. His teeth were clenched together, his open lips revealing a row of sharp canines, including a rather large one that didn’t seem to want to take residence inside of his mouth.

She knew that the hoofed quadrupeds had flat teeth. And since the mystery creature had fangs... then this picture did not make sense to her. The prey goes after the predator. Why were the roles reversed here? Even young carnivores could take down a full-grown herbivore, should they be strong enough. But he was quite small... Perhaps he had threatened them?

But no. Something told her that wasn’t the case. While she did not understand what the ponies were shouting, they were filled with an anger and a hatred that sounded nearly bloodthirsty, as if they were the ones that desired the meat of another. The screaming, panicking child running from them merely screamed, scrambling to get away, running fast, so fast for a small creature like him. Dew drops fell from his eyes, and her heart and wings beat for him, silently cheering him on.

And yet, she was right on their path. She needed to move.

He ran past her, and she finally took flight, beating her wings as hard as she could, though she found herself going after the mysterious creature herself. She did not want to leave him--she could not leave him. She knew she could not protect him, could not help him in any way, and yet, she flew by his side.

The storm grew closer, closer... They were not going to make it.

She did not leave. She did not follow her instincts. Her heart, however tiny it was, would not let her.

The yells deafened her, and more dew drops cascaded down the creature’s face as they loomed ever closer. She could smell the sharp, almost tangy scent of his fear, and the stinking, acrid smell of the hate chasing after them.

They were too slow for these full-grown mammals, with muscles built for speed and agility. The quadrupeds, who seemed like one big creature as they came upon them as a mob, seemed to roar as they fell upon the strange but beautiful child…

And took her down.

She heard her own body crunch against the ground, hooves scraping and stomping against her. She felt as if she were being flattened, and shuddered as she felt her wings tear in several places, felt the agony of her thorax and abdomen being crushed flat against the ground.

But the worst part was not even her own pain, but the sound of a child crying, screaming, begging for mercy. The sound of objects scraping, hitting, bashing against something...

She saw a light, a purple flash, and suddenly, the hooves disappeared, and the sky appeared before her. Yells of shock overcame the not-carnivores, and before she had time to realize what had happened, the storm slowly grew quiet. The hooves and voices faded away.

Somehow still alive, gasping for breath, she managed to turn. The creature, the young carnivore, was surrounded by a purple glowing ball that shattered apart as soon as the storm disappeared.

This globe seemed to have protected him like a cocoon, though how it appeared she did not know. But it had not come in time to completely protect him from harm. Bruises and bloody scratches covered his small body, and one of his beautiful flower eyes were swollen, unable to bloom fully to see the sun of day.

He groaned in pain, and she struggled to get up. She was completely crushed, her wings now nothing but remains of her former glory. She crawled, trying to get closer to this creature. For she could not stay away…

The child turned, his face contorted in pain at the movement, and his other eye, his good flower eye, landed immediately upon her. She froze, suddenly afraid.

“Oh no…”

She did not know what he said, but he didn’t seem pleased. Forcing himself up by pushing his paw and claw against the ground, he managed to get on his little mismatched knees, a stream of crimson blood running down his mouth.

It broke her heart. She felt for him. Why, why did this happen? Why? To her, he radiated nothing but innocence and an odd sense of wonder for the world. He was beautiful and unique like the sweetest flower of the biggest garden; he just wasn’t yet fully bloomed.

Why, oh why was she so small? Why couldn’t she have…?

“I didn’t want anybody else to be taken down with me too! Poor butterfly! Don’t... Don’t be afraid, okay? I’m not... not gonna hurt you…”

It hurt as he managed to peel her from the ground, but his paw was soft and warm as he looked at her, and wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his talons.

“Your wings are all ripped.”

So warm…

“You were flying with me, weren’t you? Why…? That was... That was dumb, you’re... You’re a dumb butterfly.”

More dew drops fell from his flowery eyes. One landed on his paw, so close to her, crashing against his palm. But she was so weak, too weak to even shiver from the sound of the crashing drop of liquid.

“Dumb, sweet, pretty butterfly…”

A scaly finger brushed down her abdomen. It was gentle, soft.

Her breathing grew shallow.

“I’m so sorry... I’m so, so sorry, little butterfly...
I... I didn’t mean... M-My powers, I can’t control them yet, and they went loose on the town, and they were mad, they were so mad... They... They wouldn’t let me say I was sorry, they wouldn’t let me explain. They never do! They never do, they’re never nice to me, I’m too different, and all I want is for them to be nice to me! But ponies just hurt, that’s all they do, they hurt and yell and they hate me…!”

His talon covered his face as he sobbed, his face soon covered in dew. She cried for him in her soul, wishing that she could comfort him. She felt so much for this creature, wishing she could do something for him.

She was barely breathing as she slowly began to crawl, each movement giving her a sharp pain that would have made her scream if she had vocal cords.

“What... What’re you doin’? You shouldn’t move, dummy!”

Whatever he said, he wasn’t happy, but she did not care. She managed to reach his thumb, and made herself parallel with it. She wrapped her long legs around it in an embrace. She had seen the four-legged hoofed ones do it when they were affectionate. Why couldn’t she?

Her wings hung limp. She would never be able to move them again. Not in this lifetime.

“Are you…?”

She shuddered. She heard the crashing sound of more dew drops as they hit the hand that held her. But she held steadfast; she would not leave, even if she drowned. She was about to go into the heavens above, anyway.

“...Thank you, butterfly. You’re...you’re so nice…You’re not like the ponies at all…”

She grew still.

“...Butterfly? Butterfly! No, don’t...Butterfly!!!”

He shook his hand, hoping she was asleep, or maybe she fainted.

Butterfly was gone.

The little creature buried her in a small hole of dirt, and watered the mound with his dew drops--drops that glowed in purple…

“I’m sorry…”

Wide aqua eyes opened.

“...A dream…”

Her heart was racing, the sound of it throbbing in her ears as she sat up on her bed, shoving the covers away. Her body was slightly damp with sweat and she needed cool air.

“No... It wasn’t just a dream...”

She remembered every detail of it, and not one time did Luna come in to save her. It had been scary, she had felt everything the butterfly had felt. Thought everything the butterfly thought.

And yet, here she was, a hoofed-pastel-quadruped-not-carnivore, shivering in her bed and her mind reeling over something she couldn’t understand.

“Fluttershy? Are you all right?”

Her head whipped towards the direction of the open door, seeing the outline of the figure against the light of the hallway. “Discord...!” her voice shook.

“My dear, my dear, you know better than to thrash about in your sleep without telling me first! Maybe then I wouldn’t have been so alarmed! I thought for a moment you were in danger and even summoned up Ol’ Betsy to help you out.” With a chuckle, a wooden baseball bat appeared in his hand, and he thumped the end of it against a lion paw.

A lion paw...So soft, so warm…What if she were small enough that she could just…?

She gasped, and laid her hoof against her heart. Something was strange here...Something significant had just happened, and she couldn’t figure it out, but she knew something. She knew. She just…

“Fluttershy?” His face wrinkled in concern, he approached the end of the bed. “Fluttershy, whatever in the world is wrong with you? Was it a nightmare?”

Was it? Was it really just a nightmare? And if it was, then why did it seem so...real? Like it had really happened…

Wait...What had she looked like as a butterfly, again?

Her eyes grew larger as she realized...In the dream, her wings had been a soft, gentle pink. Her body, a bright turquoise…

She leaned to the side, and glanced at her side. Three butterflies, with pink wings and turquoise bodies, stared back at her.

Yes, the ones that had saved her from that fall in Flight camp had looked like those on her flank...But was that really all there was to it? Her heart told her no…

“Discord…”

“What is it?” He gazed at her intensely, his own heart pounding. Something was strange about this atmosphere, and it wasn’t just because he was sitting on the bed that belonged to his best friend, the one he’d secretly fallen in love with. Something was...off. So off that it made his palms sweaty, and he hardly ever sweat.

“Discord...When you were little…”

She could feel the burn of his gaze on her, and she had to look away. Surely, she sounded foolish? And what she was going to say would only make her sound even dumber.

“Dumb, sweet, pretty butterfly…”

Before she could say anything else, the words could no longer be contained. Before she knew it, they rushed out like a river, drowning Discord’s attentive ears with the story of her dream, the story that she believed wasn’t just a story. The mob, the butterfly, the tiny little creature with eyes like flowers…

“And I just feel...I just feel like there’s more to it than just a dream! Before tonight, I had no idea what you looked like as a child, and there’s no way I should have been able to know what you sounded like, what you felt like...And I could feel the pain, the butterfly’s pain as her wings were ripped and as she was stomped on by ponies…”

Tears pooled on her eyes, and she shook so hard that she couldn’t even move to wipe them away.

“A-And...W-when I first met you, a few years ago...W-When I first saw you, in the stained glass window...I...I didn’t even have to look. I knew where you were. And I just...I knew, somehow, who you were...But I didn’t know what to make of it, and now my head and my heart, they’re telling me...They’re telling me that I...But that’s ridiculous, isn’t it?!?” she said, looking up at him, her eyes desperately searching his as if she could find the answer in them. “Ridiculous that I could…”

“No.”

She froze in place again, and she felt cold...so cold. “H-Huh?”

His mouth was slightly agape as he stared back at her, glimpsing at her cutie mark, then at her face. The hair on his neck was standing on end, and he felt that he had been shocked.

“I had nearly forgotten…” His paw reached forward, and slowly, slowly, he cupped her cheek. Fluttershy let out a shuddering breath, before relaxing and leaning against it, closing her eyes.

So soft, so warm…

“Your cutie mark always secretly bothered me for some reason, but I could never for the life of me figure it out. I’ve spent nights trying to rack through my brain, thinking about what it could be, until I eventually gave up. I didn’t know why--until now. I remember that, now. I had been just a kid, and I had wandered into town in hopes of scrounging up some scraps of food, hiding in the shadows since ponies didn’t exactly jump for joy at my presence...But I was barely nine years old at the time, and had little to no control of my powers. I remember, I took a single bite of a caramel apple I found on the ground before I found myself surrounded by my chaos magic, with it streaming out of me and striking anything it hit. It turned the buildings and the crops to kites, every single one of them, and there was nothing I could do to bring them back, they all flew away in the wind...And the ponies knew who did it.”

She listened with eager ears, her hoof lifting up and touching the back of the paw that caressed her cheek.

“And there was a butterfly, a little pink butterfly with a turquoise body and antenna...I remember seeing it in the corner of my eye, and while my head mostly screamed for me to run, to run as far away as possible and hide...I remember thinking in the back of my head...Why was this pretty little bug following me? Did it have no idea what in the world it was getting into? It was the oddest thing…”

A short and random memory, filled with laughter and Discord’s smooth voice, came to Fluttershy’s head as Discord paused in his story.

“Fluttershy, you are the oddest pony I think I’ve ever met. Honestly, who whacks a bear in the back like a ninja and calls it a massage? Ohoho, that’s just too rich!”

The memory ended before it barely began, and Discord spoke again in real time. “But it only made itself a victim with me. She was torn apart by my pursuers, those blasted, vile, biased little ponies…” He snarled, remembering how battered the little butterfly in his small paw was…

His thumb tickled, a physical memory of tiny little arms wrapped around it.

“I had felt it was all my fault…”

She heard his voice crack, and her eyes opened again. The flower eyes were seeping with dew.

But this time, she could reach out with a hoof and brush the tears away. She did.

“They were coming after me, but they destroyed something kind and beautiful in their wake. A butterfly that somehow...I don’t know what it was thinking. What…”

He swallowed, his Adam’s apple wobbling as he took the hoof brushing his tears away and clutched at it.. “Fluttershy, what were you thinking?”

She found that her own emotions, both at this discovery and seeing the object of her secret affections cry, one of her best friends...Both these things made her own voice crack, and her own oceanic eyes began to drown in tears.

“I...I was worried for you. I felt for you. I...I wouldn’t follow my instincts. I was just taking a rest from flying, and there were no flowers around to perch on, and I thought I heard a storm...But it was those…those horrible, horrible ponies, coming after you...And I couldn’t do anything to help, so I thought that I could at least...stay with you...So you weren’t alone.”

“You died, Fluttershy. You let them crush you to death! Why did you do that?!?”

Suddenly he was clutching her shoulders, and shaking her. “Why did you do that?!? Why did you even care?!?”

“I don’t know!” she cried out. “I don’t know, I just...You were so innocent and afraid, and even as a butterfly, I couldn’t just leave you! I could never leave you! And you were so frightened, and your eyes looked like flowers, like zinnias and daffodils, and your paw was so soft and warm, and I just wanted to do something...something for you! Something to show I cared, something to help! But I couldn’t, I was nothing but an insignificant little butterfly, and I had wished that I could give you the kindness you deserved…! I felt your pain, how much you wanted to be cared for, and I just...It...It broke my heart…”

By this time, she had both hooves over her eyes as she started sobbing violently, her memories from her former life now sharper than ever. She had been a lone caterpillar, lost and afraid in a giant world where nowhere was safe, and hungry, always so hungry. She then eventually made a cocoon for herself and came out a butterfly, but her wings didn’t dry properly or something, so she always had to take breaks in her flights. She could never keep up with other insects. The ants were greedy bullies and the flies were always wracked with nerves. The ladybugs were always too valiant and adventurous to save time for her and the beetles too stupid to hold a conversation with. The Praying Mantises were nice and always so very wise, but they were hardly ever around, living like hermits. They disliked most of the insect race, as they all believed Praying Mantises were nothing but husband-head-eating savages, when in reality they only did that sometimes. They only made contact with insects when they were hungry.

(They had liked her, though. She was an exception, even when they were hungry. She was just so nice.)

She felt arms wrap around her and she collapsed into him, unable to cope with the whirlwind of emotions inside of her. “It sounds silly, Discord, since I was a b-butterfly and I didn’t e-even know who you were, and I only kn-knew you for a few minutes, b-but I loved you, Discord. I loved you, and I hated how m-much I couldn’t do for you…!”

“Shhh...Hush now…” Tears escaped his own eyes, but he ignored them and stayed calm and brushed his talons through his hair. “You did everything you could and it meant the world to me. It was the first time I ever cried for something that wasn’t myself. I loved you too, little butterfly. Understand? I loved you too.”

This only made her cry more, but Discord didn’t move and neither did she as they held each other.

But as she began to calm down, Discord spoke once more.

“I still do.”

“H-Huh?” she said, not sure what he meant.

He loosened his hold and looked back at her, taking his arm away and instead cupping her face with his paw yet again.

“Allow me to thank you, now that you’re large enough and you have lips for me to use.”

“Wait, wha--?!?”

But before she could finish the sentence, his head had swooped down to her level and he seized her lips with his own, with one arm around her holding her more tightly and his paw digging its claws into her hair. She only froze for a second before she relaxed, and returned the kiss by grabbing his face with her hooves and forcing him against her more, kissing him harder. Discord was surprised by how much force had been added to it, but he wasn’t complaining as he tilted his head slightly to taste her more. He took it a step further by licking her lower lip, not sure if she would even understand why in the world he would do such a thing during a kiss. After all, she was rather innocent...

But she surprised him and opened her mouth for him, granting him further access. He wasted no time as his tongue entered and made contact with hers, twisting around it and fighting her for dominance.

By the time they finished they were both gasping for breath and needed to take a moment to steady their heart rates a bit.

“For a butterfly, you’re quite the kisser, my dear,” Discord said, his chest still heaving for air. “Is that something you learned in that life, or this one?”

“I…” She took another breath. “don’t know…” Her face was ablaze, blushing as red as a zinnia…

It made him laugh, how red she was, and he grabbed her and held her against his chest again, a grin on his face.

“It’s nice seeing you again, Fluttershy. I’m sorry I forgot about you, at least for a while. I swear you were always in the back of my mind, because one can’t simply and completely forget a butterfly that gave her life for you...I hope you’ll forgive me.”

Smiling, she nuzzled the fur on his chest and sighed. “It’s all right. I didn’t know until tonight, either. We remembered together.”

He could feel her smile against his chest, and he smiled too. “You came back for me.”

“I did.”

“...What took you so long? I mean, come on, Fluttershy. You didn’t even leave me a note! I could have been on the lookout! Really! A memo would have been nice. I could have used your company a long time ago, but noooooo, you had to wait a couple thousand years or so! Oh, Fluttershy, why do you hurt me?” he said, a hand on his forehead as he leaned back and lifted his head towards the sky, eyes closed in a dramatic pose.

She didn’t know what had taken her so long, but she was glad. She had found him again…

And she always would.

A Thousand Years Later

He sat with her on the hillside, watching the sun go down. They had managed to get away from the pet shop she ran in Manehattan and into the countryside for a bit, where she always felt more at peace.

Discord had no idea why she had decided to run a pet shop in the city this time. In her other lives, she had always been in the great, open outdoors, sometimes as a vet or the director of a natural park, or sometimes she had simply went back to her roots and took a house somewhere to take care of forest creatures.

He had been surprised when, five years after she finally Remembered him and her former lives, she had decided to move and bring animals to the city folk. “They’re always so caught up in their busy and crowded world that I think it would be nice to bring the joy of animals into their lives, don’t you? And you’re the one that’s always talking about change and ‘mixing things up a notch’. So why not?”

So he had moved with her, as he always did. He always made a home of wherever it was she dwelled. In this life, her name was Whisper Wing, but he always called her Fluttershy in private. Fluttershy was her Name, capital ‘N’. Any other title was just her name.

They had long since realized that the first time Discord had met Fluttershy as a pony--it had been her second life. Neither of them knew why she had come back at the time she did, why she took so long; nor did they know why she had consistently come back since. But Discord sincerely hoped she always would.

When she had died a thousand years ago, Discord had thought it was the true end. He was immortal, and she wasn’t, and he thought he would never see her again. He had loved her and had been with her ever since that fateful night, and he had been certain that she would leave for good this time. After all, she had given him kindness. She had befriended him and cared for him, just as she had originally set out to do. She had even honored him by taking it a step further and giving him her heart in exchange for his, which he greedily kept.

He remembered that moment, the day she died...

“Goodbye, Fluttershy…” he had whispered to her. The years had taken its toll on her, with wrinkles lining every inch of her face, with even more appearing as she smiled up at him. She was still so beautiful.

“No, Discord,” she whispered, nodding her head. “No goodbyes, okay? I’ll see you again...I promise.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ll see you again…”

“Fluttershy! Wait, don’t go! Are you saying you’ll come back again, or...Fluttershy...Fluttershy!”

After mourning for her, he had vowed to take care of her cottage, and whenever he was in town, he found he was always on the lookout for someone...anyone, who could have been her. He didn’t even rationalize about it. He was the Lord of Chaos and Disharmony, so he wasn’t supposed to be rational. And the whole situation between him and Fluttershy was unique anyway. But still, logic demanded that if she ever came back, she’d probably be a baby of some sort, and there was no guarantee that she would come back as a pony...And yet, only after a week of her passing, he always found himself scanning the crowds…

Even Twilight, who had, along with the others, learned of Fluttershy’s unique past and reincarnation...Even she found herself looking with Discord, in hopes of at least getting one of her best friends back.

It wasn’t until twenty five years later that she did, and it was Fluttershy who found them instead--Discord and Twilight. They knew who she was as soon as she entered Twilight’s castle as Discord, Spike, and the Princess of Friendship were playing Go Fish.

The reunion had been so, so sweet.

Since then, Fluttershy had died, been reborn, and Remembered countless times. Sometimes Discord found her first, sometimes Twilight. Even Spike found her first a couple of times. Sometimes they met her before she Remembered everything and they had to wait. Sometimes she already had Remembered, and her eyes lit up with recognition each time they found her.

Once, Discord had found her when she was just a filly, and had befriended her and watched her grow. It was a little weird at first, but she grew up and Remembered on the night of her twentieth birthday. He could still remember her eyes shining at the memories, shining at him, and how he finally got to kiss her after all that time. And each time she Remembered, it included memories of each life she had. But it always began with the memory as a butterfly, followed by her second life as Fluttershy, the Element of Kindness and Befriender of the Lord of Chaos.

And while none of her lives were the same, there were some consistencies. She always came back as a Pegasus. Her eyes never changed their shape or their color. Her talent was always with animals, and her personality was always the same sweet, shy Pegasus Discord had always known and loved.

And she had always loved him back. They never married, and they never had kids, but that was fine with them. Fluttershy’s animals were her children, and neither of them saw the point in getting married if they were just going to be together forever anyway.

She always Remembered Twilight, Celestia, Luna, Spike, and even Cadance, and always greeted them with tears of joy in her eyes. She visited the graves of Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash, the pain of loss always fresh and new with each life. Discord and the others understood this, for even though Fluttershy always came back to them in the form of a different pony, her death always hurt them and frightened them. After all, what if she never came back? What if this life was her last?

But they always saw her again. And Fluttershy reassured them that she always would.

“Discord, what are you thinking about?”

Ah, he had gotten lost in memories again. He turned and smiled at Fluttershy, aka Whisper Wind, her orange mane and brown coat reflecting the last rays of sun before it went down. Using his tail, he wrapped it around her and pulled her closer to him, so she was right by his side.

“Everything and nothing at all, Flutterbuddy.”

“Oh, that’s what you always say,” she said with a pout.

“...Are you saying I’ve become predictable?”

“W-What? No! I mean--”

“Oh, Fluttershy! Oh, cruel fate! My pegasus thinks I’m predictable! Oh sweet heavens, whatever shall I do?” He put on his signature dramatic pose, and a familiar laugh filled his ears.

“Hahaha! D-Discord, you silly…!”

He answered her back with a laugh, before getting up. “ ‘Tis getting late, m’lady. Shall we get back?”

Still giggling, she put her hoof in his outstretched paw.

He teleported them back to their apartment, and told her that alas, he could not stay with her tonight. His monthly get-together with Luna was that night, and if he skipped out, she would have his hide.

She merely smiled. “That’s all right...Tell her I said hello for me, okay?”

“Yeah, yeah, sure sure,” he said, waving that away. “I’ll be sure to tell ol’ Lulu that. Now where’s my kiss?”

Another laugh, and she flew into his arms and gave him what he asked for. When they finally parted, he gave her a smile and stroked her cheek.

“See you again, Fluttershy.”

She smiled back. They always said their goodbyes this way. “See you again, Discord. I love you.”

“Right back at ya, toots,” he said, making his hand point at her like a gun and clicking his tongue at her, before flying away towards Canterlot. Maybe tonight he’d finally win back the bits he’d lost in his last game of poker with Luna…

Fluttershy--temporarily also known as Whisper Wind-- watched him leave with a smile on her face.

Things were so much better now than they were, all those years ago.

A young Discord flashed in her mind’s eye, a memory that wished to make itself known to her.

“...Thank you, butterfly. You’re...you’re so nice…You’re not like the ponies at all…”

Not like the ponies at all…

“Not anymore, Discord…” she whispered as she watched his flying form shrink in the sky as he made his way across the sky. “Not anymore.”

She began to close the door, and she said it, just one more time.

“See you again.”