Seven years. Seven years had come and gone since that fateful day, the one Fluttershy would never forget…
But for the moment, she had other things on her mind. Screwball and Screwloose would run around the cottage without a care in the world, and Fluttershy always tried her best to keep up.
Children really do take… a lot out of y—
“No, Screwball, those knives are not toys!”
Fluttershy reached out with her magic and pushed the items just out of Screwball’s reach, and she noticed that characteristic pout beginning to form on her filly’s face.
“Now now, wouldn’t you like to play with your sister instead? She’s having fun with the animals.”
“Aww…” Reluctantly, Screwball obeyed, allowing the tired mare to sit down and ponder for a while.
With Twilight’s help, she had been able to gain some control over her chaotic magic, though putting it to good use was proving harder than she originally thought…
But that could wait a little longer. Celestia had already started to lower the sun below the horizon, and Luna’s moon slowly inched upward. Fluttershy briskly finished feeding the animals their evening snack and headed up the stairs. She had already mentally prepared herself for the chaos she was sure to encounter in a few seconds.
“Screwloose, sweetie, you know it’s not nice to jump on your sister’s bed.” Fluttershy held her up in her magic as she fixed up the mess, all while Screwloose giggled uncontrollably.
“Hee hee, it tickles!”
Alas, exhaustion was showing through Fluttershy’s magic, and her hold was slowly getting weaker and weaker. Fortunately, it only took a couple minutes to fix up her fillies’ bedroom.
“Now where did your sister go?” Fluttershy asked to nobody in particular.
She was only mildly surprised when she looked in the direction of Screwloose’s hoof to find Screwball on a pink cotton candy cloud floating around the room.
“Screwball, dear, come down from there. It’s time for bed."
“I don’t want to. I want to stay up and play all night!”
“I want to stay up and play, too," Screwloose echoed as she poised herself to jump on the bed once more.
“Don’t you want me to tell you a bedtime story?"
"Story time!" Screwloose shouted as her grin grew ever wider, and of course, her sister would not be far behind.
“I want to hear a story!" Screwball bounded down from her cloud as it burst into wisps of magic, and she lay down on her bed as Fluttershy tucked them both in and pulled up her favorite rocking chair.
“So, which story do you girls want to hear?"
“I know, I know! How did you and dad meet? What was he like?” Screwball wasn’t the only one with questions, though.
“Yeah, and was he powerful? Did everypony like him?” Screwloose would have kept asking had not her mother interjected.
“Okay, I’ll tell you how I met your father.” It’s time they knew anyway.
“Yay!”
“Your father wasn’t a pony. He was a draconequus.”
“What’s a dra… draconcus?” Screwball asked.
“Well, a draconequus has a body of many different animal parts."
“Wow. That would look weird.”
“Oh, weird was right, almost perfectly weird.” And so she went on, pulling from those cherished memories all she remembered about Discord, even those early moments where evil had taken control of his heart.
“But why did you stay with him if he was evil?” noted Screwloose.
Fluttershy simply smiled at her. “Ponies can change, and in this case, Discord changed. I always saw through his flaws, and we were able to became friends. The more time we spent together, the closer we became.
“And what did I see in him? I saw that he wanted a friend, somepony to talk to and who would listen to him. He really made my life a little more… fun…”
YAWN
“Oh goodness, look at the time! It's time for you to sleep, girls.”
“Aw, but I want to hear more about Dad!” begged Screwball.
“Tell you what: I’ll tell you the rest of the story tommorow night. How’s that sound?"
Screwball sighed. “Okay mom.”
Only the small lullaby was left, and in a soft voice Fluttershy sang as the two fillies closed their tired eyes.
Hush now, quiet now,
It's time to lay your sleepy head
Hush now, quiet now,
It's time to go to bed
A good-night kiss later and the two were sound asleep, and Fluttershy tiptoed ever so softly back to her room, her eyes once again lingering on that one picture atop her dresser: Discord and her, looking out into the distance happily, peacefully. Next to photo lay the box, that small box that held the ring she cherished so much.
Sleep abruptly took over, washing the stressful day away, but she didn’t exactly know what to do with the sight before her. She was facing a large flowery field, the sun resplendent in the light blue sky. A warm wind lightly blew through her mane as the wisps of clouds slowly hovered above. That was when she heard the laughter of two fillies. Curious, she galloped in the direction of the unexpected sound until she reached the top of a hill, only to be struck speechless.
Screwloose and Screwball. That’s who the laughter belonged to. But the creature pushing Screwball on the swing…
“Higher, Daddy! Higher!” Screwball shouted.
“D-discord… is that really you?”
He turned around, and with a snap of his talons appeared right in front of her and picked her up.
“My dear Fluttershy. You still look just as lovely as when I left.”
“B-but… is this real? Is it a dream? I d—”
“You tell me if this is a dream.” He slowly brought his face closer to Fluttershy’s, and the kiss felt so warm, so real…
This can’t be a dream. It feels too real.
She let go of his lips and slowly opened her eyes.“I miss you so much.”
He smiled back. “I miss you too, Flutters.”
The perfect opportunity for one more kiss… at least, before they noticed their children covering their eyes and sticking there tonges out.
Discord laughed and brought them in his arms.“Fine, then, if you don’t want to see us kiss, then how about we play a little game of tag?”
Screwball immediately jumped up and poked his nose with a hoof. “Tag, you’re it, Daddy."
Screwball and Screwloose scurried away, all the while Discord and Fluttershy smiling at them warmly… until Discord poked her forehead.
“Tag. You’re it, my dear.” In a flash, he sped off into the distance.
“Hey, that’s not fair!” she cried out as she chased after him.
“Oh Flutters, have you forgotten who you‘re married to? The greatest trickster of them all!”
Fluttershy giggled to herself as she galloped along.
I never want this day to end.
Oh, but it was still a dream, and in the real world a single tear slowly made its way down her muzzle, as if deep down, she knew. But she also knew she wasn’t alone, as she felt the soothing embrace of her husband’s spirit.
And she heard those last words almost as if he was lying right beside her:
“I will forever be with you. You shall never be alone.”