Hearths Warming Grief.

by BronyNathan

If I should die before i wake.

Getting back to Ponyville took longer than they thought. The flower was immune to magical abilities, which meant Twilight couldn't teleport them home, and the flower had to remain low to the ground, otherwise it would disintegrate in the high altitude.
It was a good thing Twilight read up on this annoyingly complex plant.
The train finally stopped and Woodwind was jerked out of his sleep.
"Now arriving at Ponyville! Ponyville!" the conductor called out.
Woodwind sighed.
He look down to see Squeak still curled up, sleeping like a baby.
Twilight bookmarked her book and scooped all her supplies and put them in her saddlebag.
"Lets go. We can't keep Fluttershy waiting anymore." Twilight said as she left their train car.
"Squeak? Honey? Wake up. We're home." Woodwind said as he nuzzled the little filly up
She yawned and rubbed her weary eyes.
"Can we go see mommy now?" She asked yawning again.
He smiled. "Of course we can. Now lets hurry."
He placed her on his head and walked out the train, All the ponies waiting for them, and not just their friends;
The entire town was present.
Rainbow Dash came running over with the foals giggling as they bounced in their saddle cradle. She looking frantic.
"Oh please, please, please don't kill me but i can't find her anywhere! I searched high and low all over Ponyville, but Squeak-"
She stopped and look on top his head at the tiny pink and green puffball laying in his mane, peaking out and smiling at her.
"Hi Aunti Dashy!" she said giggling.
She let out all the weeks frustration
"I give up!" She yelled as she pulled the saddle cradle off and put it on Woodwind. "Take them back! For the love of Celestia, just take them back!" Rainbow Dash pleaded.
The twins giggled and reached for their father.
Woodwind would have laughed at her behavior, after all the twins were a handful; but now, serious feelings were all was felt.
"We need to get to Fluttershy."
Applejack stepped forward, "While ya'll were gone, Fluttershy came too. She wanted to be moved back ta Ponyville hospital, so she could see all her pals."
Woodwind looked worried. She was up their to slow the illness. "When was she moved?" He asked
"Just after you left." Rarity said. tapping her hoof nervously.
Dammit. If she was still alive it would be a miracle. They all rushed into town.

The hospital floor Fluttershy was on was completely emptied. All the other patients were moved to the floor below in fear of them contracting the disease.
The girls and his children were asked to stay behind, as Woodwind was guided down the hall by a nurse dressed in hazmat.
All these precautions.
It must have been bad.
The nurse pulled the plastic sheets away, revealing a sickly figure.
It was worse than bad.
Her mouth had been stained red from the constant coughing of blood. Her eyes glazed over; no hint of the lively look they once held.
Her forehead was covered in rough scabs and blood trickled from the wounds.
She leaned over to the bowl of water on the table next to her, but was unable to reach it.
The nurse went to go help her, but Woodwind step forward first.
"Uh sir, I wouldn't get to close to her." She said warning him backing away.
He ignored her and held the bowl of water to Fluttershy's mouth.
"Who is that?" She said weakly. "Woodwind?"
She strained her weak eyes to see.
He grabbed her hoof and gave it a small kiss.
"The one and only, sweetheart. How do you feel?"
Fluttershy gagged and coughed up more blood.
"Never better." she smiled sheepishly.
"Where h-have you been? I've been wanting to see you for days, but the girls told me-" She coughed again, Woodwind held her forward and a steady stream of blood trickled from her mouth and nose.
He grabbed the wash cloth off the table and wiped her face of the blood.
"I have the cure." He said, lifting his wing to reveal the most beautiful flower she had ever seen.
"Oh, it's beautiful." She rasped. "But i think it's too late."
"No. I-it's never too late. This flower is going to-"
She cut him off. "I just don't have... have the strength anymore.." She said, grabbing Woodwinds hoof in hers.
"Tell me the truth, my love... Will I be ok?
This was just like the trial in the cave. He thought back to that moment like a nightmare. It was something that had to be done.
She kept staring at him, running her hoof along his arm.
"I promise you, Fluttershy. When you eat this, you'll be right as rain." He kissed her cheek and grabbed the flower in his mouth, and began to prepare it for her.
He ground it up into little pieces in his hooves and fed it to her little by little until she had ate it all. He didn't know how long it would take; seconds, minutes, hours?
Days?
"Come lay with me, Woodwind... Tell me about your trip."
He curled up on the bed next to her, and held her close to him.
She nuzzled his neck as he told the tail.
The journey through the desert, How Squeak had snuck along to help her.
She smiled at that. "Our little girl is so strong." She said looking up into his eyes
"She takes after her mother." He said kissing her and running a hoof through her mane.
He continued to tell the tale. The Diamond Dogs, the Cave, the mysterious stallion.
And his element.
Fluttershy looked up at him. "Y-your an element of harmony?"
"The Stallion said i had proven to be the strongest of any pony he'd encountered before. I was brave, loyal, and honest. and he gave me this."
He pulled the neckless to the front and she ran her hoof along its glossy surface.
"It's beautiful.." She said gazing into its facets. She looked deeper. "T-those butterflies..." She said, gazing down at her cutie mark. "They're mine.."
"I know. And it's because I love you more than anything in the world that their there."
She nuzzled closer.
"Do you remember that song you used to sing for Squeak when she was just a foal?"
Fluttershy asked coughing up more blood.
"Of course. Why?" He asked wiping her mouth.
"Sing it for me. Please? I love it when you sing..."
He smiled and kissed her and began to sing.

Your day was full of fun and play,

But now your sleepy head must lay.

Tucked up cozy in your bed,

Now you dream of fun instead.

Your own world, that you just made,

Is where you'll go after every day.

It was an old poem he used to know when he was younger. He added a tune to it after Squeaks was born and made it her lullaby. He looked down to Fluttershy.
She was fast asleep.
He smiled down at her and held her closer.
She was so cold.
He wrapped the thin hospital blanket over them and slowly drifted off to sleep, feeling her heart beating.
Just ever so slightly stronger than before.