Fluttershy has been silent for a few minutes, processing everything Discord had just said, before speaking up. “He does love being pampered, and I suppose he doesn’t really play with the other animals too much… And the other bunnies mainly just play with each other anyway… But, but won’t it scare them? Waking up and coming out to all this snow, all alone?”
“Mmm, well… Let’s not forget when I came over for the first time. In stepped a, oh how long am I? Eight meters? Ten?” Discord waved his claw in dismissal, “Whatever, I came in and sent your cottage spinning with the snap of my fingers and you know what?” He nudged her. “He wasn’t scared at all. In fact,” he chucked, “he tried to fight me. This tiny ball of fluff tried to take on me, the very Spirit of Chaos.” Discord rested his head on his claw and looked at Fluttershy, tickling her muzzle with the tuft of his tail, “I doubt waking up to some snow will phase him.”
Fluttershy hummed thoughtfully, a smile growing as she tried to hold in a laugh from his tail. She batted it away playfully before turning back to Discord. “Okay,” she nodded. “And if he doesn’t want to stay up over winter you can help him fall back asleep?”
“Oh, easily,” he reassured, then stretched his arms out in front of him, cracked his knuckles, and snapped his fingers.
Amongst the mound of white fur, rising and falling in a slow, steady rhythm, a little pink nose pushed its way up from underneath. It twitched for a good few seconds before the muzzle followed behind and yawned languidly. And a few seconds more the body followed, struggling its way half-heartedly out of the suffocating mass of fluff. His ears still clung behind his head and his eyes were still closed, but Angel made his way to the edge, stretching his legs as he clambered over the bodies, ignoring them as they sleepily batted at him to get off. Once his whiskers brushed against the earthy walls of the mound, he slowly pushed away the soil and wiggled his way out, barely registering the snow that clung to his body as he left. He twitched his nose again, picked up the familiar scent of Fluttershy, and slowly shuffled over to her.
Fluttershy could all but shake in anticipation, a soft gasp escaping when she saw Angel’s nose poke out from the mound. She wanted to rush over to him but found it hard to move. It’d only been a few weeks but it felt like a whole season had already passed when she saw him slowly make his way over to her, his ears still folded behind him and his eyes still shut. Her eyes had started watering but she was too focused on Angel to notice. Her breath caught in her throat when he made his way between her forelimbs and cuddled up against her collar, and she breathed the kind of sharp breath you take when you’re holding back tears. Her forelimbs circled around him and her head dipped down to nuzzle him.
Angel may not have noticed the cling of the cold snow on his back and under his feet, but he instantly recognized the wet plops bouncing off him from Fluttershy’s tears. It wasn’t unusual; she cried when he woke up last year too. And when she came back from week-long journeys with her friends. It was nice that she missed him, and her nuzzles were always welcomed, but wet fur wasn’t something he was a big fan of. He took a moment to rub his face more roughly against her collar to wake his eyes. Then, blinking them open and taking a moment to adjust, he pushed himself up a little and wiped away her tears, chattering his little teeth softly. And when he saw she was calming down he sat back on his haunches to do a quick groom-over, just to get some of the larger chunks of earth and fur from the other bunnies off of him. He licked his paws and pushed them up against his head, moving back behind his ears then coming forward, clumps of snow falling off both behind and in front of him. Then he noticed. He looked down at the clumps of snow that had just fallen, then looked back up past Fluttershy and saw the bleak sky and empty branches on barren trees. He heard Fluttershy say his name but ignored it, standing on his hind legs to spin in a circle, his nose twitching, his ears up, as he curiously looked around.
He looked rather calm, Fluttershy noted, and breathed a sigh of relief.
Then he saw Discord, just lying on the blanket and giving him a toothy grin. His ears twitched and his teeth chattered as he tried to scramble over Fluttershy’s leg, but she held him back and Discord stuck his tongue out.
“Angel…” He stopped his fussing and turned to Fluttershy, his eyes lingering over at Discord a moment longer before he crossed his arms in a pout. His furrowed brows turned up and he chattered at her, gesturing all around them before pointing at Discord. “Oh, oh no Angel, Discord didn’t change the weather, it’s still winter…” He crossed his arms, unconvinced. “No but it is, he wouldn’t just make it snow in spring.” He puffed some air through his nostrils and rolled his eyes. Fluttershy’s voice turned softer, gathering his attention again. “I’m sorry we woke you up, Angel. We just thought, maybe, um… Discord can regulate your temperature so you don’t get cold. So, if you want, you can stay with me over winter? B-but you don’t have to, of course. He can help you fall back asleep. But… if you do want to, you’d have the cottage all to yourself, and since all the others are sleeping or away for winter, I’ll have a lot more time and we could do anything you wanted.”
She really wanted him to stay. And he had to admit, it all sounded wonderful. Though he’d have said yes to just one of those things. Still, Angel could tell something was wrong; she was releasing a lot of odd pheromones that were making him anxious. He reached up to wipe her eyes again before sitting back down and nodding enthusiastically.