He made it to the room she was staying in. She was lying in bed, looking weak and frail. Her coat was a pale yellow, not the bright yellow he was used to seeing as if she was glowing with such warmth that came from the sun.

"Oh, Fluttershy…" he kneeled in distress, "If I had just been with you this entire time, you would be well and not… like this… There's something you need to know, my sweet Fluttershy…" he took hold her and started moving his claw from her hair to her face while performing a spell. "Every day for the rest of my miserable, immortal life, I will always regret the day that I betrayed you. Since then, I was afraid of losing you… forever… But I won't let that happen. I refuse for it to happen… This is my gift to you… so may you live to see your friends and those you care about. I'm not sure if I am your friend or if I'm something more to you, but I hope that I am… I want you to be happy and healthy. That's all that matters to me…" He stopped the spell and hoped that he wasn't too late to cure her.

For a brief minute, nothing seemed to be happening, but then Fluttershy's eyes fluttered open!

"Discord?" she lifted her hoof to touch him and make sure he wasn't an illusion.

He smiled down to her, taking her hoof, "Yes… I'm here… and you're here too…" Then, by using his magic, he made the door swing wide open so their friends could see.

"Fluttershy!" they all cheered and rushed to her side, chatting about how happy they were to see she was alright.

"Discord…" Twilight went to him with tear-filled eyes, "Thank you… Thank you so much."

Shortly after, they were all thanking him, even Rainbow, who gave him a hug!

"Oh, stop it, what else could I do? Fluttershy means everything to me just as much she means to you. But I would do the same for each and every one of you, my friends. Which is why I'm about to tell you the tale of a lonely and broken draconequus…"

They listened on with anticipation, hearing every detail that Discord had to tell. Once he finished his story, Fluttershy looked on with tears and was about to get up to comfort him.

"Discord…" but he quickly made her lay down.

"Oh, no you don't, missy. My magic may have cured you, but you've got to rest for a bit to recover fully. You're staying in that bed."

"I can't believe about to say this," said Twilight, "but listen to Doctor Discord." She nudged him playfully.

"Oh, ha, ha, Princess."

The others had to giggle.

Fluttershy giggled, too, "I guess it's only fair, since you were sick and I had make you listen to me on what was best to cure you."

"There you go! Now we're even, so every pony, out-out!" he started scooting them out.

"Hey!" Rainbow said.

"Fluttershy needs to rest up if she ever going to be able to perform tonight. Come back in three hours!" he shut the door behind them and turned back to face her.

"Discord? Did you mean that? That I could perform in the play?"

"Yes, I did, and I'll be right in the front row watching you…" Catching himself, he quickly said, "All of you! That's what I mean, all of you." He sat on the side of the bed.

There was a bit of silence between the two of them until she softly spoke.

"You know, I think I feel a bit cold in this room…"

"Oh, would you like me to turn up the temperature?" He had his fingers at the ready, "Or get an extra blanket?"

She looked away shyly, "Some… someone with warm fur would do…" she made sure her mane was hiding her blush.

Discord smirked at the sight. He could see she was doing a horrible job of hiding those red cheeks, "My, you're right. It is chilly in here." he mocked a shiver, "Better get under the blankets, if that's alright with you…?"

"Oh! It is!" She caught herself, still blushing, "That is, if you really want to…"

He did a chuckle and popped next to her, putting an arm around her, "Feeling warmer now?"

"Yes." she answered, laying her head to his chest and feeling the same warm fuzzy fur as before. He put his head on top of her's, still being able to smell that sweet smell from her hair.

All was peaceful and relaxing, but Discord still had something on his mind: were all the things Luna said real? Did Fluttershy care more for him than being a friend? He wasn't sure how to approach it; he had never done this before… Heck, he was still learning about friendship, let alone this new type of emotion, the thing that Princess Cadence was in charge of: love.

"Is everything alright?" she looked up to him with those beautiful teal eyes he couldn't resist except when she did that stare of hers.

"Oh, yes, I just… was thinking… You're aware of sending Luna to me, right?"

"Uh-huh."

He rubbed his neck, "Well, um, she may have pointed out some hints of what our relationship could be…"

She swiftly put her head down and whispered, "…could be more then friends?"

"Luna suggested it, not me! I just…" he couldn't say.

"Do… do you want to?" she slowly raised her head.

"Well, um, that depends. What are your feelings on it?"

Without saying a word, she leaned over the bed. He thought with despair, So I guess that's a no…

But she came back up holding a small box giftedly wrapped. He looked at in confusion.

"I wanted to give it to you before you left… but when everything happened with the race, I… couldn't. So, here it is: your first Hearth's Warming Eve present…"

"For… for me?" he said in near-tears while taking it, "I… I never had a present before…"

"Go on, then. Open it. I really want to see what you think…"

He carefully opened it. When the lid came off, he saw an ornament of two bronze figures of them in the shape of a heart. He was speechless at first, and then looked down at the pegasus who gave it to him, "Fluttershy… does that… does this mean you do want to be more than friends?"

She beamed at him, "I do…"

"But why? Don't get me wrong, I'm positively thrilled by this news. It's just…why me? Especially when there are several-and I do mean several-good-looking stallions that could use a girl like you."

"I could never love them the way… I love you…" her eyes gleamed at him, "I've always loved you…"

His jaw dropped, "That's 'I've always loved you' since after Tirek, right?"

"Actually… I thought about that… then I realized something: why was I so heartbroken to your betrayal? Because you were right at that point: I should have seen it coming… We've only written to each other, and I took care of you while you sick. We also had tea every once and awhile… but that's it… you visited and gave me unexpected gifts, but had we been stronger friends, then maybe you wouldn't have considered…" she stopped herself from going any further.

"…have considered his offer…" he finished for her in a low, sad tone, "You're right; maybe if we had been, then I would have never…"

She put a hoof on his paw, "But it doesn't matter anymore; it's over. We've put that behind us. As I was saying, I've always loved you… since well… maybe when we first met."

He gave a stifled laugh, "Yeah, right…"

"Granted it wasn't really love at first sight, since you were…"

"… a big dumb meanie?"

"That's putting it mildly…" she went pink, remembering those were her very words, "but anyway, looking back, I admired how you were just trying to… pressure me to be unkind before resorting to magic. Then when we put you back in the stone prison, I heard your cries and felt guilty for what we had to do… I guess after I was tasked to reform you, it gave me comfort that you were out and that's why I wanted to befriend you and have the space to be yourself… So you could be good and have freedom… but I guess it wasn't enough…" she sighed sadly.

"Oh, Flutter… Oh, Fluttershy, I really was an idiot! You did give me that freedom, but I was still thinking like I was enchained!"

"Of course you were! You still couldn't use your powers to full use!"

"I mean, I was out and not stuck in a stony place again. I should have thought more clearly and been thankful for what you did."

"The point is… That I came to love you… your sweetness, your antics, your fun-loving nature… those are your best qualities that make me love you all the more."

He did a small chuckle and touched her chin, having them looking straight into each other's eyes, "You know, I think I've loved you since the first day we met. You… really had me perplexed. I didn't know how you did it with all that innocence, but for the first time in my life, some pony had gotten the best of me and I'm not talking about the times I was turned to stone. I mean that someone would face up to me and manage to get under my skin. Not only that, but twice you did it! I thought it was just an annoyance, but really, it was just you making your way into my icy heart and thawing it. The times we've spent later on, I loved every bit of it and the letters we've written to each other. But then… came Tirek… At first, I was going to recapture him for you…"

"You were…?"

"Yes, it was mostly to please and impress you, proving I had turned over a new leaf. And maybe… you'd see me in a different light… but… it didn't turn out that way… I am always going to regret that moment, Fluttershy, and nothing you say is going to change that."

"I understand, but you must know that we did forgive you…"

"I know… Luna proved to me that I'm just as connected to the Elements as all of you are. I was the last key bearer and I helped Twilight find her purpose. I thought I wasn't meant to have friends, but it turns out that the ponies that we meet, the ones that become your friends, I now see I, too, can have a purpose in life… You, our friends, are all that matters to me now. And I will never lose sight of that, ever again."

She beamed at him and ended up kissing his cheek. He blushed, but he was touched all the same. Then, with a mischievous smirk, he used his tail to do the snapping and above them appeared mistletoe. She saw the plant and was now blushing, too.

"If we're going to kiss, we might as well do it the traditional way…"

She did a small giggle as they looked straight into the other's eyes. Slowly leaning forward, they had that first kiss…