A Still Night

by GarfieldThePony

Rating: everyone
Tags: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Fluttershy, Discord, Princess Celestia, Slice of Life, Alternate Universe
Length: 6298

Is this the right thing to do?

Set after the events of an alternative Keep Calm and Flutter On. As Fluttershy continues to keep her promise to Discord. One night, she goes into a panic when she makes one mistake that might reset her progress. What lengths will she go in order to fix it?

For Day 7 (Free Prompt - Alternate Universe) of #FluttercordWeek2020

Published 2020-01-25 05:20:01 UTC
Last updated 2020-01-25 05:20:01 UTC

Are you...Listening?

It was a cold winter night in the Canterlot Gardens, the wind howled as the snow gently poured down like falling drops of flour, causing thick blanket of snow to cover the ground, making it difficult for a certain yellow pegasus to find her way on the path. She wore a heavy, purple parka, gloves, a purple beanie, and blue earmuffs with flowers on the side. On her back, she had her saddlebag, and a long rope attached to a crate behind her.

The sound of a crate being pushed and the soft sound of a struggling pegasus rang throughout Canterlot Gardens. Fluttershy paused to catch her breath, she wiped the sweat from her brow and glanced worriedly behind her at the wooden crate. She sighed wearily. You’re almost there, Flutters. Just a few more feet. She grunted as she forced herself to pull the crate along the blurred path.

You made a promise. she said to herself.

Fluttershy noticed the path started to get clearer, she felt a wave of relief wash over her as she continued onto the familiar path. Over a period of time since Fluttershy started her promise, the path had become smooth and pristine, the yellow pegasus often wondered what caused the Princess to fix the path. Nevertheless, she was glad it was fixed. Fluttershy stopped at a crowd of trimmed bushes. Ever since Fluttershy decided to tend to his statue, she decided to tend to his surroundings as well.

She took a deep breath and trotted around the bushes, struggling to pull the crate with her. She entered through a clear entrance from behind the bushes that she had trimmed out. She entered into a cozy and lush with green clearing. In the middle was his statue, covered in a blue tarp to protect him from the snow, surrounding his statue was a ring of orchids, two tall lanterns, and a small birdbath. It was like Fluttershy’s little home away from home.

“Good evening, Discord.” Fluttershy smiled to herself as she untied the rope from her back and dropped her saddlebag and earmuffs

She flew up and pulled the tarp from the statue. The draconequss’ gray statue remained unchanged, however, he had an assorted flower necklace around his neck and the blanket Fluttershy had knitted for him, now faded, still around his waist, it started to flap like a cape again in the cold wind.

She flew over to the lantern and opened the small door on the side of it. Using a small match from her saddlebag, she lit both of them.

The yellow pegasus blows out the match and closed the small lanterns. She landed on the ground near Discord and let out a dull sigh.

You’re an hour late.

“Sorry I was late, Discord,” she yawned and seated herself down in front of him. “A funny thing happened to me on the way here. I was pushing my wagon I was using to carry a gift I had for you, but it broke halfway through the trip due to how heavy it was. So I didn’t want to waste any more time going back and getting another one, and I decided to push it all the way here. Hope you can forgive me.”

Why waste your time with such a tedious task? This “gift” of yours better be worth interrupting my peaceful sleep.

Fluttershy quickly got up and pushed the crate toward the statue.

“It’s now been hundred and fourteen days and counting since the day I made my promise.” she paused and glanced up at him. “And it’s almost Hearth’s Warming Day and I wanted to celebrate it with you. So I made you this gift.” She was quiet for a moment. “Discord, have you ever celebrated Hearth’s Warming? Do Draconequi have their own form of the holiday?”

She was only given silence. All she heard was the wind whispering in her ears.

Fluttershy lowered her head. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. it was stupid of me to ask.”

Discord rolled his eyes in his mind. I fail to understand why you even try to talk to me. This whole thing is practically a one-sided conversation ever since the start. I’m honestly surprised that you’re been keeping this shtick up for this long. Don’t you ever get tired of just coming here doing the same thing over and over? Why can’t you understand that this is pointless!?—

Discord’s stone ears perked when heard the soft whimpers coming from beneath him. His head couldn’t move from the still position it was cemented in, but that whimpering, he only heard her do that on supposed bad days, but even he didn’t know how to handle a crying pony. He couldn’t stand it.

Oh, c’mon, why are you crying? If only you could only hear what I hear, you would know how IRRITATING that is.

His one-sided protests were only met with her soft whimpering.

If this is one of your tricks of trying to make me change, it’s not working, he winced. It’s not, he let out a long sigh. Okay, it might be working just a tad bit. I just can’t do anything about this. I can’t even decide if I actually want to help.

Soon, Fluttershy’s whimpering turned into soft sniffles. She paused for a short moment, removed her hooves to reveal her bloodshot eyes and took a deep breath and exhaled. She wiped the cold tears from her tired eyes with her warm scarf. Fluttershy cleared her throat, and looked up at him.

Discord’s heart almost sank when he heard her broken voice. “I-I-I’m sorry, D-D-Discord. I didn’t m-mean to do that. I’m sure that I-I-I irritated you, “ she paused and cleared her throat. “It’s just...I’ve been through a lot lately.”

The draconquss started to feel guilt pull on his stone heart. He swallowed hard as if he was to blame for her sudden outburst. He shook his head violently, trying to erase the thought from his mind. He almost wished he was able to move his eyes, so he could, at least, see what burden this pegasus before him was carrying.

This...this has to be a trick of some sort, right? To lower my defenses, so she could snake her way into my mind and get me to change my w-

“Angel has been sick,” Fluttershy uttered as she leaned her head against Discord’s pedestal and closed her eyes. “He had this big fever, these cold sweats, and he wasn’t eating. He’s doing better now, but he’s not all the way better. But every time I’ve been tending to him, the more time I lose that I could’ve use to tend to you. I can’t call the vet since it’s the holiday and all of my friends are too busy to take care of him. I can’t focus on taking care of Angel when I have to tend to you later at night! And when I tend to you, I lose time I could be using to take care of Angel in the day!”

I’m not the one forcing you to come, you have no reason to be here.

She, softly, started to pound on her head the pedestal. “On top of that, my new animal sanctuary is having difficulty dealing with the winter; some of the animals haven’t even started hibernation yet and I’m running short on supplies!”

She gritted her teeth. “And today I just had an a-a-argument with my friends! They keep saying “I’m overworking myself”, or asking “why am I always sleepy?” and “why do I keep forgetting to take care of my animals!?” And all I have been doing is lying to my friends because I don’t have the courage to tell them that I’m spending my nights with you!”

As I said, you have no reason to be here. You are just hurting yourself and everyone around you.

The yellow pegasus got up and flew into the draconequss’ frozen stare. “And you want to know who I’m most mad at?! Myself! I have been wasting my time, trying to help you when, I, myself, don’t even know if it’s even working! I don’t even know if you can even hear me or I’ve been talking to myself this whole time!”

The draconequss could the see the fire in the pegasus’ eyes. He could see the anger and sadness in her solemn eyes and it frightened him.

Uh, Fluttershy, you’re getting a little—

“Can you hear me, Discord? Can. You. Hear. Me!?” Fluttershy didn’t notice as she was getting closer to his statue and before she knew it, it started to tip over. As if time slowed down, Fluttershy watched in horror as Discord’s statue tip over the pedestal.

“No, no, no, no!” Fluttershy desperately tried to grasp his statue before it fell, but it was too heavy for her and it slipped from her hooves before she could get grab a hold of it.

SMASH

A cloud of dust appears as Discord’s statue hits the ground, and frantically, Fluttershy uses her wings to blow away the dust, and quickly lands to find Discord. She gasped in horror at the mistake she had done. Thankfully, Discord’s body was intact, however, his head, tail, and limbs were not so lucky.

“No, no, no, no! Discord, I am so sorry! I-I-I didn’t mean for this to happen! Please don’t be mad at me!”

I feel funny. Discord said in a dizzy voice. What happened?

“I promise you, Discord!” Fluttershy exclaimed in a sacred voice. “I will fix you!”

Holding back the urge to cry, she ran toward her saddlebag and gathered anything she could find to help put Discord back together. With a couple of spare clothes and some tape, she placed Discord, laying down, back on the pedestal and collected all of his pieces.

Carefully, she tied his legs back together with a spare coat, his arms with tape, wrapped a spare scarf around his head.
She gently moved his statue and cautiously put his tail back into place. She wiped the sweat from her frowned brow and observed the statue. She let out a sigh of relief. “I hope you’re okay, Discord.”

London...bridge is...falling down, falling down.

CRACK

Fluttershy’s short moment of relief only lasted for a moment as the pieces fell down, this time one of his antlers fell off head and his body split in half. The yellow pegasus shrieked in horror as the pieces fell down. She started to hyperventilate.

“Oh, dear, oh my goodness, I can fix this, I can fix you!” Fluttershy uttered to herself between hyperventilations as she looked around for something to help her. She dumped her saddlebag on the ground, and started searching through the pile aimlessly. “I-I-I-I can fix you.”

She let out a frustrated groan as she started to pace around, nervously biting her lip. She realized that she didn’t have anything that could fix him. She looked back the statue and carefully picked up his head. She stared at it with sorrow with her glossy eyes. “I’m sorry, Discord, I promise you that I will fix, no matter what,”

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall...Humpty Dumpty had a great fall...

“I just have to find something to help you...” she flew up, looking around to find something that could help her. She noticed a small garden shed near the back entrance of the castle. She sighed in relief as she flew back down and placing his head back on the pedestal.

“I’ll be back, Discord!” she yelled as she exited the bushes and started to scamper away, towards the castle. “And don’t worry!” she paused. “if you can worry, please don’t worry!”

My...fair lady

The moon was shining down, illuminating the path for Fluttershy. The yellow pegasus stopped to take a quick breath as she found herself near the entrance of the castle. She paused as she noticed two guards standing near the entrance, highlighted by the light shining through the cracks of the door,

Carefully, she hid in the shadows, trying to avoid being caught by them to get to the shed. She wished she had her spy outfit, it may not be the best thing to use to blend in, but it could do the job. As Fluttershy tip-toed to the shed, one of the guards noticed her and whispered to the other guard.

“Hey,” the green guard whispered, he gestured where Fluttershy was with his head. “Isn’t that Fluttershy?”

The purple guard squinted his eyes, trying to see in the darkness, his widened in surprise when he saw her. “It is her. What’s she doing at this hour?”

The guards watched as Fluttershy got to the shed. She looked at the door handle and tried to open the door, however it was locked. She let out a frustrated groan.

“Why would any pony lock a shed?” she started to look around. “There should be a key around here.”

Fluttershy started to look around the shed, she looked under the doormat, under the flowerpot, she thought to look inside the pot, but didn’t want to ruin the flower in the process. She moved on to look around the bushes, and even above the windowsill, but the key was no where to be found.

The guards watched as Fluttershy started to pace around nervously. They noticed she had stopped she spotted a rock on the ground.

She picked up the rock and aimed it at the window. The guards became confused when she started to stand there for a while. She looked at the rock and then at the shed.

“What am I doing? I can’t be seriously contemplating throwing this rock...?”

She looked back at the guards. They quickly looked away. Fluttershy let out a sigh of relief. “Good, they didn’t see me yet.”

The guards looked back at Fluttershy and saw her collecting trigs and putting them in her now messed up mane. She grabbed the doormat with her wings and set it over her back. Soon she started to go the guards.

The guards gave Fluttershy a confused stare.

“What is she doing?”

“You know what, just pretend to be sacred and let her into the castle. She has already embarrassed herself with that spectacle, just let the Princess know she’s here.”

Fluttershy approached the guards. “Boo. Let me into the castle.”

The guards gave each other a knowing look and rolled their eyes. They let out a fake scream, and the green guard stepped aside, sliding the door open, letting the light from the inside escape. He gestured the yellow pegasus inside, Fluttershy looked at the guard cautiously, and then glanced at the other.

“Well?” the purple guard said with a shiver. “Get going, monster.”

The green guard let out a small screech, backing away from Fluttershy. “Apologizes, Flutt-I mean monster! We don’t want any trouble.”

I didn’t think that would actually work. Fluttershy forced a small smile and let out a small, nervous chuckle. “Uh, thank you.”

The warm light bathed Fluttershy as she quietly trotted inside the castle. The door slowly closed behind her, but she could hear the sharp whispers of the guards from behind the doors. The yellow pegasus tossed her “convincing” disguise away and started to slowly walk as she looked back at the exit one last time.

“Find the keys and then get back. Find the keys and then get back,” she closed her eyes and repeated to herself. “find the keys and then fix him. I’m going to the dungeon for this.”

Fluttershy started to wondering down the long hallways, scanning the doors along the way for something that could help her fix Discord. Her heart started beating fast as she continued to go deeper into the castle. Her eyes scanning the names on the door: lavatories, a few guest rooms, one or two cabinet rooms, or Luna’s Study. All she needed to find was the groundskeeper’s room.

Her ears perked when she heard echoes of hooves coming up from the next corner. It sounded like normal three sets of hooves were coming done the hall, but in Fluttershy’s ears it sounded like a giant stomping. She started to hear voices coming from the corner.

She panicked as she looked for a place to hide. As the talking become closer, she quickly entered the nearest door and closed it. Thankfully, no pony was in the room, however the room was dark and the only light source was the light coming from under the door.

Fluttershy cupped her ear against the door and listened as she heard the three sets of hooves walked past the door. She could hear them talking, but couldn’t fully make out what they were saying. All she could hear was her heart pounding like a beating drum.

“Are you sure —— came this way?” said a female voice.

“I’m sure. This is the only way that leads to the back entrance.” said a male voice.

“————,” said the female voice. “The guards from back said they noticed —— was in distress.”

“Could ——- be hiding?” said another male voice. “That would make the most sense.”

“That is a possibility,” the female voice paused for a moment. “Actually, you two go that way, —— go this way. And don’t argue with me, I can take care of this myself.”

The sound of metal clanging was made and soon the shadows started to fade away from under the door. Fluttershy could hear the hooves growing quiet. She sighed heavily as she fell back against the door. “That was a close one.”

Fluttershy peeked under the door to see if there was still any pony was there, no pony was there. She peeked her head out from the room and searched the hallway, the coast was clear. The yellow pegasus tip-toed out of the room, quietly closing the door behind her. She continued to walk down the hallway and as she rounded the corner, without realizing, she bumped into a heavy object, knocking her down.

Her vision was blurry as she opened her eyes, but she could see the outline of some pony holding out their hoof for her.

“Hello, Fluttershy,” a familiar voice said. “I apologize for being in your way.”

Oh, no. Fluttershy said in her mind. I’m going to the dungeon.

As Fluttershy’s vision cleared, her eyes widened in surprise as they were met with a pair of gentle magenta eyes and a confused smile. Princess Celestia was standing before her, her hoof still held out, Fluttershy gulped as Princess Celestia helped her up. The yellow pegasus awkwardly chuckled as she started to slide her way around the white alicorn.

Fluttershy forced a small smile. “H-HHello, Princess,” she bowed quickly. “It was nice seeing you and all, but I have to go!”

“Wait, Fluttershy, I ca—“ Celestia started to say.

Fluttershy rushed past Celestia and tried zooming down the hall, but the alicorn stopped her in her tracks using her magic. Princess Celestia brought Fluttershy back to her. Fluttershy used her mane to hide from embarrassment as she was placed back on the ground. She could feel the princess staring down at her. It was like she was a filly again and Celestia was her mother, and she was in trouble.

“Fluttershy,” Celestia started with a calm voice. “What’s wrong? Why are you sneaking around the castle at night?”

Fluttershy didn’t answer. The alicorn frowned and cupped the pegasus’ chin and lifted her head so she could face her. Celestia’s heart sank as she saw the yellow pegasus’ eyes flooded with tears and her lips were trembling. She looked away from Celestia, trying again to hide her shame.

The white alicorn kneeled down to the pegasus’ height. “You’re not in trouble, sweet Fluttershy. Just tell me what’s wrong so I can help you.”

The yellow pegasus didn’t respond.

“Your friends have been worried about you. They come to me, telling me that you're falling asleep during almost every Friendship Meeting, you’re forgetting to feed your animals, and spending more time indoors then usual. They feel like you’ve become more reclusive and they don’t know what to do,” Celestia placed a comforting hoof on her shoulder. “Please, I want to help you.”

Celestia heard a small mumble come from the pegasus’ soft, pink mane. She let out a soft sigh.

“I’m sorry, Fluttershy, but I didn’t hear your.”

“I broke him.”

Celestia raised a brow. “Who did you break, Fluttershy? I’m not going to be mad.”

“I broke Discord. I broke his statue.”

Celestia’s eyes widened in surprise, and then softened.. “Oh, I’m sure we could fix him.”

“I don’t think we can...Discord’s probably gone by now because of me,” she sniffed. “I broke the promise I made to him, I broke him, I basically broke into the castle, and I broke the promise you made for me, Princess Celestia,” tears started to run down her buttermilk colored cheeks. “I couldn’t reform him then, I probably can’t reform him now!”

“Fluttershy-.” Celestia started.

“I think I have been pushing myself too much-“

“...Fluttershy-.”

“I mean, how was I supposed to know that tending to Discord would cause so much trouble form-“

“Fluttershy!” Celestia yelled, waking the pegasus from her ranting.

“Y-Y-Yes, Princess.” Fluttershy stammered through her tears. “I am going to the dungeon?”

Celestia chuckled softly, pulling Fluttershy into a hug. “Of course, not, Fluttershy. We don’t even have a dungeon,” Celestia cleared her throat, and took a deep breath. “Listen to me, I know that you've been taking care of Discord, I’ve known for a while now. And you breaking his statue is okay, he will be okay. He can be fixed.”

The yellow pegasus blinked her eyes in confusion. “But, how? I broke his statue into pieces...”

Celestia sat up and pointed toward the back exit. “I’ll explain it to you when you take me to Discord. I want to clear up any confusion you may have,” she smiled and held out her hoof towards Fluttershy. “I want you to know that you are doing is beyond selfless, Fluttershy. Maintaining Discord while he is in stone is one thing, but acting in such a way as if he was actually dying is another. You truly deserve the title of “Element of Kindness”.”

Fluttershy looked at her hoof and up at Celestia. She rubbed her eyes and smiled as she took her hoof. “Thank you, Princess.”

As Fluttershy and Celestia exited the castle, Celestia turned to the corner and toward the shed and Fluttershy followed her. She stopped at the door and used her magic to lift a plant from its pot, revealing a key inside the pot. She unlocked the door and entered the shed.

“It was in the pot the whole time!” Fluttershy exclaimed in annoyance. “This whole mess could’ve been avoided if I had just followed my gut feeling...”

Celestia appeared from the shed, levitating a bag of quick-dry cement and a trowel. “Perhaps it was a good thing that you didn't follow your gut feeling. I always wanted to talk to about this, but I couldn’t find the right time to ask you.” the white alicorn closed the shed door and placed the key back in the pot. “Though, I would’ve preferred it at a better time then this.”

“So, Princess. When did you find out that I was doing this?” Fluttershy asked as they started toward the path to Discord’s statue.

Celestia cupped her chin. “Hmm, I believe it was about a month ago. It was the groundskeeper that told me something or somepony was coming here at night. He kept reporting that for every night the bushes or the hedges had been trimmed or the statues that become polished and even the flowers being tended to.”

“After growing tired of his constant complaining about how it should be done his way. I finally decided to check out for myself. I stayed up one night, keeping a watchful eye for anything out of the ordinary until I saw a silent pegasus trotting along the path,” she looked at Fluttershy and smiled. “I decided to watch and see what she was up to. I followed her cautiously behind and watched her enter a cluster of bushes, where I knew I left him. I had to leave after that, but I knew she was doing the right thing.”

They stopped in front of the entrance to the sanctuary. Fluttershy paused, took a deep breath and looked at Celestia.

“Don’t worry. He’ll be okay,” she said, putting a hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder. “This has happened many times before actually. He spent a thousand years in stone, there’s a big chance that during that time, something would happen to him.”

“Is there a reason why you hid him away this time?”

“I hid him here not because I wanted to punish him, I put him here to protect him from everypony else. Not everypony has a heart like you, Fluttershy. There have been times where I find him vandalized or destroyed. Luckily he wasn’t permanently damaged or his spirit would’ve lost forever.”

Fluttershy put her hoof over mouth in shock. “why would anypony do that?”

Celestia closed her eyes. “Some aren’t willing to forgive and forget so easily.”

As Fluttershy and Princess Celestia stepped into the sanctuary, the white alicorn’s eyes widened in surprise as she saw the magnificent display of brightly colored flowers, the dimly lit lanterns shining an orange hue blending in with the moonlight, and a marble birdbath with two doves swimming in it. The clearing had a warm feel to it, making her almost forget the cold outside.

She looked back at Fluttershy, her eyes still shining in amazement. “Did you do all this? All by yourself?”

The yellow pegasus nodded with a small smile.

“All for Discord?”

“Well....sort of,” she said, twiddling her hooves. “I wanted to make this place all nice and beautiful, it was getting a little dull with all dark green shrubbery everywhere and I want it to be nice when Discord comes back,” she paused for a moment and then her eyes widened. “DISCORD!”

Fluttershy scrambled toward the pile of Discord and lifted his decapitated, stone head. She brought him back to Celestia. She fell to knees in anguish, lowering her head and presented the alicorn with his head.

I can’t feel my arms, mommy. Did I sleep on them again? Silly me.

“Can you fix him?” she questioned, peeking her head up from behind the stone head. “There are still pieces of him over there.”

Celestia let out a long sigh and placed the bag of cement and trowel on the ground. She grabbed his head with her magic and examined him for a moment. Fluttershy bit her hooves nervously as Celestia observed his head. Then Celestia glanced at Fluttershy with a hopeful smile. “Yes, I can fix him, just go gather up the rest of him and I’ll see what I can do.”

The yellow pegasus eyes lit up in excitement and joy, she jumped up and wrapped the white alicorn into a tight hug. “Thank you, Princess! Thank you so much!”

“Y-You’re welcome, Fluttershy,” Celestia stammered with an awkward smile. “now would you kindly let me go, you’re kind of crushing me.”

A flustered Fluttershy released the white alicorn and blushed in embarrassment. “I’m sorry, Princess,” she said sheepishly. “I don’t know what got over me.”

“No worries, now please go get the rest of him.” Celestia said, readjusting herself.

The yellow pegasus scurried off and collected the rest of the stone pieces and carefully dropped them in front of Celestia. Using her magic, Celestia levitated all of his pieces and carefully put them back into the right place.

Is it time to wake up already?

“Fluttershy, do you mind if I use your bird bath?”

“Oh, ah. Go ahead, Princess. Whatever you need.”

Opening the bag of cement, she dumped it into the birdbath and started to stir it with the trowel. Fluttershy sat next to her, watching her as she started to use the newly wet cement to reconnect the limbs back to Discord. Fluttershy sat there, starting to think to herself. Will Discord be okay? Will he mad? Can he hear her?

I can see my body, but my head isn’t on it. What happened?

Her head started to hurt as more thoughts came flooding in about what condition is Discord might be in, can he hear her? Is this the best thing to? Or she is really having an effect on him, changing him for the better?

“You know,” Celestia started, waking the pegasus up from her thoughts. “I could've placed one of the castle guards or the groundskeeper in charge of him like I did last two times, but you acted voluntarily and placed this burden on yourself without hesitation.”

Fluttershy tilted her head in confusion. “Burden?”

“When was the late time you got a full night’s sleep, Fluttershy?” she asked, noting the dark circles under the pegasus’ eyes.

“Oh, um...I don’t know...” she started scratching her head. “Last week? Last month? It’s all been a blur really. Is that bad?”

It’s not my fault that you can’t sleep because of me.

“Yes, it is bad, you can’t always stay up so late, it’s unhealthy,” she started, putting his tail back together. “What do you usually do every night you come here?”

Fluttershy let out a long yawn. “Well, I usually tend to his needs, cleaning him and all that and then I spend two hours or so talking wit- I mean to him. I would, some days, bring a small tent over and call it a sleepover, but in actuality...I’m just sleeping after I tend to him. Is that a rude thing to do?”

Oh, so that's what that loud snoring was.

“No, it’s not, child.” she said as she placed cement on his head. “I don’t want to be rude, but who is tending your needs? You’ve been putting his needs before your own needs. You need to learn that your needs are to be put above all else and that your needs doesn’t include Discord.

Fluttershy was quiet for a moment. Her mind swirling with thoughts, she looked for the right words to say, but all results were empty. Celestia was right about this. This is unhealthy, but she knew she had to take care of herself, but Discord’s imprisonment still nagged louder at her brain then that.

“Celestia...” she hesitated for a moment and looked down at her hooves. “I’ve been meaning to ask you something. When...when can Discord come out?”

Celestia froze for a moment and was quiet. She looked at his head and frowned. “In due time, Fluttershy. Discord still hasn't truly learned how selfless you are for him, but I can assure you that he is listening.”

Why do I get the feeling that you’re shooting daggers at me?

“I've known Discord for a very long time and I know how he feels about being turned to stone. He needs to learn that what he’s done to ponies is wrong and to learn that there are ponies that are willing to help him right his wrongs.”

“I want to talk to him, I want to hear his voice. I don’t care if he says “thank you” or even “I’m sorry”. I just want to know that what I am doing is actually doing something for him and I want to keep your promise.”

Celestia placed his horn back on top his head and coated cement on it. “You have noble intentions and those are admirable qualities. But you have to learn there are different ways for doing that then losing sleep and obsessing over someone that is always going to be okay no matter what.”

“But how can you so sure?” Fluttershy questioned.

She lowered the trowel and smiled. “Because I will be here to make sure of it.”

Celestia finished put the last touches toward Discord’s statue. She wiped the cold sweat from her brow and sighed tiredly. She teleported the cement away and replaced it with water from a nearby pond. She placed his statue back where it was and joined Fluttershy. They stepped back to admire Discord’s repaired statue.

“He looks as good as new, Princess,” she pulled Celestia into another hug. “Thank you!”

“You’re welcome, Fluttershy. I’m happy to help you.”

What are you looking at? I can’t see anything except the trees again.

“Do you think Discord likes it?”

“I hope he’s eternally grateful for what we did for him.” she gave his statue a quick glance. “You should go home. I will send the groundskeeper to watch over him for the rest of the night.”

“What, no! I-I mean, no that's okay, Princess. I can watch over him. I want to.”

“No,” she said sternly. “I think this is enough for today. You can come back tomorrow and see him.”

She stared worriedly at Celestia and then at Discord and then back at Celestia. Celestia gave her a reassuring smile, the pegasus let out a small sigh. “Okay, Princess. I will go, but can I speak with him first?”

“Oh, of course.”

“Alone.”

Celestia nodded in response and started to leave the cosy sanctuary. But before she left she spotted the wooden crate near the entrance of the sanctuary. She noticed a note was on top of it and it read:

For Discord

From Fluttershy

P.S. I hope you enjoy this gift when it’s Hearth’s Warming. I will be here to spend some of it with you. No pony or draconequss should be alone that day.

Celestia smiled to herself and trotted out of the sanctuary. We will spend it together.

When Celestia left, Fluttershy let out a small sigh. She turned her head and faced the statue again. His statue now was clean, and more polished, it almost shined in the moonlight. The yellow pegasus flew up to his head and met his eyes.

Fluttershy?

“I’m sorry, I hurt you, Discord. I want you to know that I would never do anything to harm you in any way. It’s just that earlier I wasn’t in the best mindset,” she yawned silently. “I have been pushing himself too much and I need to learn that I need to do this in moderation.”

“If I don’t come for some days, I hope you can understand that I need to tend to myself. But I won’t forget about you, and I will find ways to make your imprisonment more enjoyable, you can count on it.”

“I hope you are doing okay in stone. I hope you are happy. I want you to know that whatever happens to you, I or Celestia will be there to help you. I want the best for you.”

“I know that you can hear me now, but I don’t know if you are willing to change. But when you get out of stone, I want to be right here with you when you do. I want you to see the friend that has been helping this whole time. I hope we can be friends.”

She stared up at the moon and felt a small smile tug at her lips. “Whenever that day comes...I will be right here for you, every step of the way.”

She became silent and sighed tiredly. She looked back at Discord and gave him a small and quick hug. She landed back on the ground and started to gathering her belongings. She placed the blue tarp back on Discord and blew out the lanterns. As she left the sanctuary, she paused and stared back at Discord through the darkness of the night and then at the crate. She smiled to herself as she started to open the crate.

In the crate, there was a new and polished pedestal that was made out of marble. It shined in the night. In the middle of the pedestal, there was an engraving that illuminated in the moonlight.

Discord
Lord of Chaos
Friend to Fluttershy

“Goodnight, Discord. Sweet dreams.”

And with that, the yellow pegasus left the sanctuary, leaving the statue alone with only himself and his thoughts; only the distant sounds of hooves crunching snow filled his ears, something inside of him felt empty when that sound of crunching disappeared into the night.

Fluttershy...

Through the silence of the night as the cool wind howled, and small snowflakes started to pour down. A small yet distinct aura of warmth could be felt in the sanctuary. Discord winced to himself as a twinge feeling of emptiness was forced down upon him. He could feel his stone heart, his slow, stone, cold heart aching.

He wished he could move his eyes in this cursed form, he wished that he could’ve watched her disappear into the shining nigh, he wished he could look around and see what she made, made for him, he wished that his statue was facing the entrance, so he could see her coming, so he couldn’t just see the darkness of the night.

Fluttershy? Fluttershy? Please come back...I...I need you... he aloud to himself with no avail of reaching anyone else. It’s too lonely here...

Through the loud howling of the wind, the continuous snowflakes constantly showing down on him, and through the frigid air, the wind blew off his tarp, exposing his statue to the cold. A warm, golden light start to emit from his stone chest and a small crack started to appear on the end of his stone tail.

Author's Note

Thank you for the reading the sequel to A Cold Night. For the next Fluttercord Week, I will write the final chapter in this story.