//------------------------------// // Epilogue // Story: The Draconequus with the Dragon Tattoo // by A M Shark //------------------------------// Fluttershy’s lunch with Big Mac ended quickly, and they parted ways amiably. Big Mac went to find Cheerilee, to explain things to her, and prevent any rumors about his and Fluttershy’s relationship. Fluttershy in the meantime decided to go back to her cottage. There might not be a party to look forward to that day, but there was that surprise Discord had mentioned. “Discord?” she called as she went into her cottage. No answer. “Discord? Discord?” Still no answer. “Discord, if you’re trying to pull some kind of joke, this isn’t funny.” Still there was no answer nor any sign of him. “Are you trying to play hide-and-seek with me?” No answer. Sighing, she started looking under the furniture and into corners Discord would ordinarily have been much too big to fit into. All the while she wondered if he would suddenly pop into existence and startle her. She went into her bedroom, peeked under the bed. “Angel? What are you doing under there? Have you seen Discord?” The old bunny crawled out from under the bed and pointed out the door, indicating that was where he’d last seen the draconequus. Fluttershy frowned in the direction he’d pointed, but then she thanked him, and—thinking he would be more comfortable on top of her bed rather than under it—picked him up, and put him there, before going back out of the bedroom to continue searching for her partner. As she searched, she kept calling his name but was met with silence each time. “Discord?” she asked in a much more uncertain tone as she started checking through the kitchen cupboards. Then something colorful sticking out of the trash caught her eye, and she hurried over to see what it was. There wadded up on top of the garbage was the colorful scarf she had given Discord. Seeing it there, Fluttershy felt as if she’s just been punched in the chest. When they’d first started working together she’d suspected that he might be softening her up for a cruel blow later on. But nothing had prepared her for this. He had never taken that scarf off since she had given it to him. The fact that it had been tossed in the trash could mean only one thing; Discord was gone and he didn’t intend on coming back. Pulling the scarf from the trash, she clung to it as the tears started to fall. Meanwhile, outside the cottage, several part-pony, part-insectile creatures—all semitransparent and nearly invisible in the dimming light—hovered just over the roof, feeding off the sorrow emanating from the pony underneath it. “And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.”—1 Corinthians 13:13