Discord stood in a simple, plain field of grass, staring and remembering. In the distance was a tree…one of the last from the original Everfree forest. Off in the other direction was the valley Ponyville used to reside in.
And the spot where he stood right now…it used to be Fluttershy's cottage.
Her living room, if he remembered correctly. It was starting to get harder to remember the exact position of things…there wasn't even a single sign of the cottage that used to be here thousands of years ago. Time had long since worn it away, just like it did to the town and forest. Like it would do to even his memory, if he wasn't careful.
Still, he closed his eyes and snapped his fingers. The ghostly image of the cottage appeared, just as he remembered it. He took a seat on the couch (really just floating on the air above it, since it wasn't real), and looked around the room. Here and there were a few fuzzy or blurry spots, but most of the image was crystal clear.
He finally turned to look at the most important part of the mirage, and the clearest—Fluttershy. Young, beautiful, fair…she rested in her favorite armchair as the sun danced across her face. Her eyes were half-open as she sleepily peered at him, a smile on her muzzle.
Just like every time he did this, he reached out to caress her cheek, only for his hand to pass through the image. He took a deep, shaky breath, and closed his eyes. He summoned a teacup from his dimension, one of hers, which he turned over and over in his hands just to have something tangible.
With each turn, he recalled a different memory. That day on the frozen lake, where his frozen heart started to thaw. Their first tea party as friends. Their first date. Their wedding. The pretend tea parties they shared with their children. Their children growing up and starting families of their own. Each memory was sharply bittersweet—filling him with a warm lightness, but also making the void in his chest feel deeper and ever more impossible to fill.
How could he be so, so close to where she lived, where he had been with her, where they shared their love…and yet so far away?
His hands started shaking, so he quickly sent the teacup back to his dimension, where it would be safe. His breathing became shaky, and he was losing focus, so the image of the cottage began to fade away. He closed his eyes and let it, pressing his hands against his eyes.
Why did he keep doing this? He missed her so much that he had to look back, to try and…close the distance. But every time he did so, it hurt.
And memories were all he had left, besides a few momentoes. Time had worn away buildings and places, as well as knowledge of Fluttershy in general among ponies. He had long since lost track of their extended family, and he wouldn't be surprised if the line had ended.
He gasped, huffing and puffing as tears started to slide down his muzzle. He had promised he wouldn't try to bring her back after her time had gone, and he never did. The idea of time travel always buzzed in the back of his mind, as did dimension-hopping, but…any Fluttershy he found would probably already have a Discord. And if he knew him, he wouldn't be willing to share.
It didn't seem fair. He could travel to other continents with barely a thought. Hopping to another dimension was as simple as opening a door. Even time could be bent to his will if he pulled the right strings. But he still couldn't reach his Fluttershy. He lost her to time, which had even stolen her name from the legends it should have been written in. All he could do to close the distance was remember and pretend.
“…sorry again, Izzy,” a voice in the distance said, interrupting his spiral of despairing madness. His ear twitched up, swiveling in the direction it had come from. “I didn't realize they followed me! Do you think Alphabittle will be mad?”
What was this, now? Ponies had been so at each other's throats that it must have been decades since he had observed any traveling between their claimed territories like this. He flapped his wings and soared into the sky, turning invisible and looking for his prey.
There, passing by the last Everfree tree! An earth stallion and a unicorn mare, a sight he hadn't seen in quite a while. They seemed rather plain and boring to him at first glance...though most ponies these days did little to catch his interest. “Ah, don't worry, Hitch!” the mare—Izzy—said. “You treated them well, right? Then he won't be mad at you!”
“I hope so,” her companion Hitch said. Discord realized that there were three small armadillos riding on his back. Two were curled up and asleep, while one was tugging on the stallion’s mane. With a sigh, the stallion placed a large berry in their paws, which they began to eagerly munch on.
Discord blinked. For a moment, instead of the rugged earth stallion, he saw a fair pegasus with a daffodil coat and cherry blossom mane. He blinked again, and it was just the same old stallion there.
…but perhaps not a plain or boring one. Discord had the feeling the stallion had a spirit like Fluttershy's…perhaps he had given up too soon on their line being gone. He'd have to pay a visit to the family tree, to see if there was a thread or bloodline he had overlooked. But before that…
Eyes gleaming, he dove into the ground and turned into a shadow, slithering after the two ponies. His attention was fully on the animal magnet of a stallion, feeling a light connection with him as he merged into his shadow.
Perhaps a piece of Fluttershy wasn't as far away as he had feared. It wouldn't be perfect, he knew, and of course the stallion was no replacement—there wasn't a single creature in the universe that could ever replace Fluttershy.
But he’d do anything to try and fill the void and close the distance.