The beating of the chisel as it hammered against a stone block echoed in the clouded gray sky. A disgruntled draconequss grunted to himself as he kept hammering away at the stone, carving out a familiar pattern of a mane. The draconequss stopped and sighed wearily, standing up from his small chair, and wiping the cold sweat from his brow as he quietly observed his work.

His brow quickly starts to narrow as his red eyes picked out every uneven mistake made in each carving. His frustration was starting to fume, the anger started to well up in his chest.

“No, no!” he exclaimed out of exasperation. “Everything is wrong! It has to be perfect!”

He snapped his fingers, making the stone block disappear into thin air. A new one appeared in its place without any carvings or cracks.

“No magic. No magic,” he uttered quietly. “Prove to her that you can do this without your destructive magic.”

Then he went back to it, hammering at the stone relentlessly as the sky echoed again with each strike of the stone.

With each strike, tears started to swell up in his dull, mismatched, red eyes as through each smack, he could hear her soft voice call out to him for help. He gritted his teeth in anger, trying to hold back the pure rage from erupting from inside of him.

“Keep it together, Discord,” he said to himself through his teeth, still hammering away at the stone. “Don’t let your emotions get the best of you. He’s gone now.”

The stone started to become smoother. Soon the body of a female pony started to take shape, carvings of a mane started to take form. He moved to the bottom, and slowly started to carve out the unmistakable pattern of those three butterflies. Those unforgettable butterflies. Discord prepared to do the head of the statue, he readied his chisel and slowly moved his paw toward the stone. As he reached toward the stone, his paw started to quiver, he glared darkly at his paw, and as if it was a frightened animal, it stopped.

“Are you trying to ruin this for me, righty? We both agreed that this was supposed to be perfect,” he sighed tiredly, rubbing his temples. “I don’t want any mistakes...”

The draconequss paused for a moment and stared deeply at the almost-finished face. He sniffed and rubbed his eyes with his arm, then he resumed.

The draconequss dropped his tools from his tired, bruised, and gray hands as he had completed the statue for her. He stepped back to get a full view of the statue. His eyes widened in amazement as he saw the statue in all of its glory. He stepped closer and slowly raised his paw on the statue. He hesitated for a moment and frowned. She’s not trapped in stone, remember that she can’t be freed from stone.

He gently placed his paw on her stone, cold mane and brushed his paw across it. He stared at her stone face with guilt in his eyes. Discord sighed longingly as he rested his face on top of her head, his eyes glistened with tears.

“I’m so sorry, Fluttershy. I couldn’t save you from that monster’s wrath,” he sniffed. “It’s my fault that this has happened to you.”

“That monster...that Cratomar...he took everything from us...everything from you...”

“All I wish for is to see to you one last time and actually have a chance to say goodbye, but now every time when I close my eyes, I see you. I see you crying...I see your beautiful face turned into a face full of fear and despair...we were separated by two inches of glass and I couldn’t do a single thing!”

Discord broke into tears, he wrapped his arms around her statue and buried his face in her stone-cold shoulder and sobbed.

“I’m sorry, Fluttershy, I’m so so sorry!” he said through his tears. “I wish I could take everything back...”

Here lies Fluttershy; ”a beautiful wife, a caring mother"

"A wonderful friend"

” Element of Harmony, Savior of Equestria”

19XX-2020

"Yay."

These are the words that Discord engraved in Fluttershy's pedestal, he had gently placed the statue on top of it. Her wings were spread out majestically, her teal eyes closed, and one hoove pointing to the sky, pointing to Heaven.

He lay on his back under Fluttershy's statue, protecting it from any bird that threatened to fly by. His paw and claw at his aching chest, he wanted to get rid of the twisting feeling in his heart, but that is something he can't undo. He stared at the clouds above him in his newly-remade garden. He rested his head on the soft cotton candy grass, he hadn't eaten or drank in days, neither have been sleeping, but that didn't matter to him.

He watched the clouds float by in familiar shapes, he could easily just move the clouds into his own design, creating something unrelated to his depression. Yet the clouds rather had other plans, the clouds often shaped himself and Fluttershy dancing across the sky, even if he chose to remove it, the clouds would reform into their haunting shapes again.

"You're in my arms, and all the world is calm.
The music playing on for only two.
So close, together.
And when I'm with you
So close, to feel alive."

He let out a sigh as he slowly got up and sadly floated to the lake. He looked down at his shameful reflection, but something was off about it. Fluttershy was with him, she was sitting right next to him, smiling. He tried to grasp at Fluttershy's hooves, which only caused the water ripple away his beloved, leaving his tears-stained face all alone.

"A life goes by,
Romantic dreams must die.
So I bid my goodbye
And never knew.
So close, was waiting,
Waiting here with you.
And now, forever, I know
All that I wanted
to hold you so close."

He walked over to the cliff, watching over Ponyville and Sweet Apple Acres, as he saw ponies repairing town hall and Applejack and her family repairing the barn, he already did his part repairing most of the town and also replacing Applejack's burnt apple trees after Cratomar's rampage. He fixed his castle, every room, and every detail was the same except...one precious detail was missing; his beloved Fluttershy.

"So close to reaching
That famous happy end.
Almost believing
This one's not pretend.
And now you're beside me,
And look how far we've come.
So far we are. So close..."

Memories flashed into Discord; his times with Fluttershy, their first date, her birthday when he popped out of the cake, their wedding, their happiness together, Screwball's birth, and all of his most favorite memories with her.

"We're so close to reaching
that famous happy end,
And almost believing,
this one's not pretend."

"Let's go on dreaming
for we know we are...
so close, so close
and still so far..."

Loss of a Butterfly

by GarfieldThePony

Mourning