"What a grouch!" Rainbow Dash said as they were walking in the castle, "How can anyone hate Hearth's Warming Eve? It's, like, the best time to get presents other than your birthday."

"You said it!" Pinkie got her in a tight hug.

"Pinkie…" Dash gasped, "…choking…"

"Well, girls, it's not like Discord got to enjoy those Hearth's Warming Eves while he was in stone, now could he?" Twilight made her point across.

"Yes… that is true…" agreed Rarity.

Both Pinkie and Rainbow had sudden guilt on their faces. Dash moved her hoof in a circle, looking down, "Yeah… I guess you're right…"

"But one thing still doesn't add up, Twi…" said AJ, "Why did Discord not get out of the pile when he had the power to do so? He was actin' mighty strange when we had managed to dug him out."

"Yes… I'm still not sure what happened there… it was almost as if he was afraid…" the princess pondered and then turned back to her pegasus friend, who loved to stay on the ground and had not said a word since Discord's departure, "Fluttershy, are you alright?"

"Uh?" Fluttershy looked up in confusion as if she hadn't heard a word they said, "I'm sorry… I'm just… so worried about him…" She turned her head away and did a small sniffle.

"Hey, we'll figure this out…" Twilight wrapped her arm around her, "I promise…"

"Thank you…" she said quietly.

"And… I think I know how we can!" she started off for another part of the castle, while the others just shrugged and followed her.

Twilight knocked on a door and the door opened to reveal Luna in sleepwear and a mask over her head.

"Twilight Sparkle, this had better be important. I must get my rest for my nightly duties."

"This won't take along, I swear, but we do need a favor…"

"Yes?"

Twilight recapped of the events that happened while they were playing with Discord and how he was upset, claiming he hated Hearth's Warming Eve.

"I see…" Luna said.

"And I- we were wondering if you could go into his dreams and get to the truth of why he hates this holiday or what happened this morning. We want to help him, but I don't think he'll listen to us or share anything with us."

"Oh, please, Luna… Can you?" Fluttershy pleaded.

"Discord hasn't had any nightmares, so there's not much I can do… but… seeing how you deeply care for his well-being, I will try to reach out to him…"

"Thank you…" Twilight said with relief, "We'll let you get back to sleep."

"Yes, for I will need all my strength and power to get inside the draconquus's head." she nodded and closed the door.

Fluttershy smiled, but suddenly felt a twitch in her nose and sneezed, "Ah-choo!"

"Gesundheit!" said Pinkie.

"Thank you…" but she sneezed again and sniffled.

"Fluttershy…" Rarity came over to her, "Are you sure you're alright…?"

"Yes, why do you ask?" but she wasn't sure if she was alright.

Rarity put a hoof over her head, "Why. you're positively burning up!"

"A fever?" asks AJ.

"Must be," said Twilight, "Fluttershy, you need to lie down."

"But I felt fine for the last couple of days…"

This got their attention and RD said in a skeptical tone, "What do you mean the last couple days?"

"Well, I… I was in my cottage when Angel rushed in to point out a family of birds that didn't make it south and were caught in their nest as a snow storm was picking up. I had to go help them. The storm was getting worse, but I managed to locate the nest thanks to Angel. Once I helped the birds inside, I decided to make sure no other birds were around. It took a while, but at least there weren't. I noticed I was sniffling, but that was it."

"And then today when we were playing in the snow…" Rarity pointed.

"You got worse!" Rainbow flew up in anger.

"Oh, I'm sorry, but I didn't want you to worry…"

Twilight shook her head, "You're just as bad as Discord: both of you refused to say anything to your friends when something is clearly wrong."

"I…" she started coughing and felt hot all over her body, "Oh…" she started wobbling. AJ and Rarity saw this and caught her before she fell.

"Rainbow! Get the doctor!" Twilight ordered.

"On it!" She flew off at the speed of light.

Moments later, they had her lying in a guest bedroom as the doctor was checking over her. Only Twilight was present during the examination while the others had to stay outside. Rainbow paced back and forth. Rarity was keeping Pinkie calm and Applejack was keeping Spike calm. Twilight emerged, but she had a sad look on her face.

"It's… ponyeumonia…"

They gasped; ponyeumonia was a very hard disease to fight off, especially when one spent hours in the cold.

"Oh, Fluttershy!" Pinkie cried.

"What can we do…?" Rarity asked in despair.

"Nothing, I'm afraid to say… the doctor said he and his nurses will do everything they can as they monitor her…"

"So we just have to sit by and do nothing?!" Rainbow demanded.

"I'm with Dash on this. We can't just… just let our friend suffer like is…" Applejack had a tear in her eye.

"I know… I hate it as much as the rest of you, but we must pray for a miracle… She would say that if any of us had it instead. And because it's close to Hearth's Warming Eve… I hope that a miracle will show…"

They nodded in sadness and lowered their heads.

Discord was back in his own little world, but he wanted to be close to his thinking tree in the outlandish gardens he made. He had a barrier up so the falling snow wouldn't touch his property.

"Hearth's Warming Eve…" he muttered under his breath, "what a bunch of humbug…" he laid his head against the tree branch. "Why do they even need to celebrate it, anyway? It's about six boring ponies finding a new land. Big deal!" he crossed his arms, "And what is with all those trees and candies?! They have nothing to do with the story!" Then he looked over to the horizon as Celestia took down the sun. "Well, might as well go to sleep. Tomorrow is the day, but you won't know because you'll be sleeping through it and when you wake up the day after, it'll be all over!" He summoned a pillow and blanket and made himself comfortable in the tree. He drank a cup of warm chocolate milk and slowly, he fell asleep.

Events of this morning replayed in his mind, from him surprising both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy as a talking snow-pony to skating with Fluttershy. Then there was the big race that he wanted to win for Fluttershy, which he did. He was about to hold on to her until darkness surrounded. He could not escape. He felt the cold once more. "No! No!" he shouted, "Fluttershy! Fluttershy, where are you?!" Suddenly, he saw a bright blue light shining above him.

Luna floated down to him, "I'm surprised. This the first time you ever had a nightmare… You're… afraid of the dark?"

"What? No! No, of course not!"

"There's more to it than that?"

He sighed, turning away from her, "Yes…"

"You're afraid of losing Fluttershy?"

"In a way, yes. She is my dearest friend and I can't lose her. That was the reason I came to see her the day before Hearth's Warming Eve. I didn't want her thinking I was rejecting her invitation, but I couldn't stay…"

"And why is that…?"

"What does it matter to you?" he said in defense.

"It matters to your friends… They're worried about you and want to understand your problem with this holiday."

"Well, you can tell them it's none of their business! It's my own deal, so they have nothing to do about it! Considering they can't do anything about it anyway, why should they bother?!"

"Maybe not, but if you would just tell them…"

"Never!"

"Alright… you have left me no choice…"

"You're leaving? Good! You know where the exit is, so, bye-bye!"

"Far from it. We're going to take a trip to your past…"

He griped in fear and threatened, pointing his claw at her, "Lulu, you wouldn't dare…"

Her horn glowed brighter, "Try me…" The darkness dissolved around them, with an intense light coming out of the horn. They found themselves in the middle of a checkered ground with cotton candy clouds above them in the sky. "Do you remember this place?"

He walked around slowly, "How could I forget…? I planned on remodeling Equestria this way as homage to this lost site…"

"And, does he… look familiar…?" Luna pointed to a small draconequus.

Discord stared with a gloomy face and his ears drooped, "Yes… Him, I know too well…"

"Because… that is you, isn't it…?" she looked back to him with sympathy.

He sighed, "Right again, Luna…" He was not in the mood to call her something else.

They watched on as the small and cute draconequus played with his magic. Discord was amazed by the way he had changed over the last eons. Before that, he had a fluffy white top, his horns hadn't grown in yet, and a cute furry body walking on all fours. He couldn't be any more than a two or three-year-old.

The little draconequus summoned up butterflies of assorted colors, then a pink butterfly landed on his nose and he giggled to that.

Well, that certainly explains why Fluttershy has had a big impact on me… he thought with a grin. But he frowned when he heard a voice so long ago…

"Discord!" a female draconequus came to him, "Time to go home!"

The young Discord giggled and floated to his mother. By then, his papa popped in.

"Here you go, son. Cotton candy from the clouds above!"

The draconequus child's eyes lit in wonder and took the cotton candy wholeheartedly.

Discord could not bear to watch the personal scene between him and his parents. Luna looked on with guilt, but she knew she had to make her point across or else Discord would never share anything with his friends, who wanted to so badly help him.

"Perhaps it'd be best we fast-forward to the part where it all began…" she stomped her hoof and before Discord knew it, the scene rapidly changed to him getting lost in a huge snowstorm and trying to look so hard for his parents.

"Mother! Mother!" the little one cried, "Father! Where are you?!" Tears ran down the small draconequus' face. When the storm had finally settled, he could see that he was all alone…