That first snowflake of the day. It was always a treat when that sign of things to come floated down gently from above.

A treat in more ways than one.

As Discord stood there in front of the chicken coop outside Fluttershy's home, he opened his mouth and extended his reptilian tongue to smartly catch the hexagonal snowflake, which reacted to the saliva of the spirit of chaos by instantly bursting into flames. The draconic being of unique physiology retracted his tongue, swallowed and let out a tremendous belch, a bright orange fireball bursting forth from his mouth, causing one of the nearby chickens to squawk in panic.

"Oops. Swallowed my tongue again," Discord said a little thickly, his tone knowing and sly. He reached up with his one taloned hand, reached inside his mouth and put his arm absurdly far down his throat and into the depths of his body, soon pulling up the tongue that had settled in his stomach and repositioning it in its rightful place. "That's more like it."

A familiar giggling caught Discord's attention from behind and he turned his head completely around in a manner not unlike an owl (though in Discord's case, it was more akin to the possession victim from The Exorcist) to see Fluttershy standing there in her winter boots, smiling up at him in a very lighthearted way, her eyes momentarily closed, which just added to the cuteness of her smile.

"Oh, you saw that, did you?" the taller being guessed, smirking once more as he folded his arms, his head still on backwards. "I always did have an eye for frozen snacks. Still, they're snow picnic."

Fluttershy laughed. "You never change, do you?"

"Au contraire, my dear Fluttershy. I'm always changing," Discord told her slyly before transforming into an exact lookalike of Princess Celestia. "It's just not always clear who I'm going to change into," he concluded as he changed back to his usual self.

"Oh, stop it," Fluttershy told him half-seriously, the creamy coloured mare reaching up with her front left hoof and nudging her friend playfully in the side. "I like your snowshoes," she then commented.

"Oh, you noticed?" Discord gestured to the tennis racquets tied to his mismatched feet (the left a hoof and the right a clawed dragon foot), for they were indeed actual tennis racquets and not proper snowshoes. "Yes, I saw Cadence and Luna playing with these and I just knew that they'd serve me well. You know, because they're tennis racquets, which are used for serving?"

Fluttershy nodded, having understood the joke perfectly, but she was now frowning slightly. "You know you can't keep those, Discord. They don't belong to you."

"Oh, come now, Fluttershy," Discord said, pouting slightly, turning his body around to appropriately match the position of his head. "What's a few more minutes of the princesses being stuck on a score of thirty-love? That's zero, by the way."

Fluttershy narrowed her eyes slightly and gazed intently at Discord, giving him 'the stare'. The spirit of chaos sighed.

"Oh, very well," he said, snapping his talons, causing the tennis racquets to instantly vanish. "They were starting to get uncomfortable, anyway."

The warmth in Fluttershy's expression returned and she turned to reach behind her, soon facing Discord again, now holding a pair of snow hiking boots not unlike her own in her mouth. Unlike the boots she wore, which were small, green and cute, the ones grasped between her teeth were bulkier and of two distinctly different shapes and sizes. They were brown and white with a little pink butterfly painted on each - reminiscent of Fluttershy's Cutie Mark. She placed them down in the snow before Discord. "I thought you might like these better than some silly old racquets," she stated as she looked up at him, beaming with kindheartedness, "Especially as an early Hearths Warming present."

Discord was taken aback. This wasn't the first time that Fluttershy had surprised him with a gift, but the fact that she always did so with such earnestness, such thoughtfulness, never ceased to amaze him.

With another snap of his finger-like appendages, the boots magically appeared on Discord's feet, each one fitting perfectly, as Fluttershy had no doubt intended. Then he grinned broadly.

"Oh, come here, you!" the spirit of chaos declared, suddenly reaching down, grabbing his pony companion in a friendly headlock and giving her a vigorous yet gentle noogie. He then frowned slightly as he released Fluttershy. "Hey, wait, why are you crying?"

"Oh, I'm just…" Fluttershy paused, wiping her eyes. "I'm just so glad you like them."

"Well, of course I like them! They're from you!" Discord said, putting his hands on his hips as he smiled at his friend.

"Oh, Discord!" Fluttershy wailed, wrapping her hooves around Discord's waist in a tight hug. Discord chuckled in a soft, warm way.

"It's you who never changes, Fluttershy," he told her, returning the embrace, "And I daresay that's for the best."

"Thank you," Fluttershy said, releasing him and reaching up with a hoof to wipe her eyes. "Ooh, now I'm excited!" she exclaimed suddenly, indeed looking like she might jump clean out of her boots in eager anticipation of something.

"Excited?"

"Yes, because I just know that you're going to surprise me with something wonderful as well!"

Discord's eyes widened and his pupils shrunk. The spirit of chaos realised that the idea of getting his friend a Hearths Warming gift hadn't even crossed his mind!

"Um, Discord? You do have something special planned for Hearths Warming Eve, don't you?" Fluttershy asked, looking like she might delve right back into a tearful state again - the bad kind.

"B-but of course, Fluttershy! What d'you take me for?" Discord exclaimed quickly, chuckling nervously. "It's just…" He hesitated, running his one paw along the back of his head, beads of sweat forming under his mismatched antlers. "Well, it's… It's a surprise!" he managed at last. "And I certainly wouldn't want to, you know, spoil it for you!" He smiled meekly, his one fang showing.

Fluttershy beamed. "I knew you wouldn't forget," she said to him before turning and heading over towards her house, Angel Bunny waiting at the door in a tiny pair of rabbit-sized slippers and a Santa hat, a mug of hot cocoa in his paw. Once Fluttershy was inside and had closed the door behind her, Discord immediately split into multiple copies of himself, each of them staring at each other with alarmed expressions on their faces.

"What do we do now?!" they cried in panicked unison.

My little pony, my little pony…

(harmonising)

My little pony!

I used to wonder what friendship could be!

My little pony!

Until you all shared its magic with me!

Big adventure!

Tons of fun!

A beautiful heart!

Faithful and strong!

Sharing kindness!

It's an easy feat!

And magic makes it all complete!

You have my little pony!

Do you know you're all my very best…

Friends!

Discord's Disco Dissonance

The streets of Ponyville were lined with a blanket of white, only the roads devoid of snow thanks to the vigilance of those ponies who had taken up shovel or plough to keep the main pathways clear. In front of Quills And Sofas, the shop that specialised in those two types of items, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were busy making a snowpony in the likeness of the 'Great and Powerful' Trixie. As Scootaloo put the finishing touches on the head, she frowned, staring at it thoughtfully.

"Hey, Sweetie Belle, did you remember to grab that pointed sorcerer's hat from Carousel Boutique?" she asked.

"Huh? Oh, sorry. Guess I forgot," Rarity's little sister admitted.

"Oh, man! Now what're we gonna do?"

"We could make a sorcerer's hat outta the snow, maybe?" Applebloom suggested.

"Hey, what about that hat Twilight has?" Sweetie Belle advised, remembering the hat the Princess of Friendship had once worn as part of her Nightmare Night wizard costume. "You know, the one inspired by Star Swirl the Bearded?

"Hey, yeah! I'm sure she wouldn't mind!" Scootaloo said eagerly. "Especially if we tell her it's because we're now big fans of Star Swirl!" she added, sorting with laughter at the very idea. "Oh, I can just imagine what Rainbow Dash would say about that one!"

"She'd be laughing harder than you are!" Sweetie Belle exclaimed. Then she stared off into the distance, appearing curious about something she had spotted. "Hey, isn't that…?"

"Huh?" The other members of the CMC followed Sweetie's gaze to see Discord making his way along the path, appearing very distracted. He seemed to be mumbling to himself. In addition to the snow boots Fluttershy had given him, he now sported a blue down jacket he had conjured up, for the temperature had dropped somewhat since he had left Fluttershy's place, and judging by the clouds building on the horizon, it wasn't about to warm up again anytime soon.

"I suppose I could always… No, I gave her one of those on her birthday. I could perhaps use my corruption magic to alter her memory, give her the same thing again and pass it off as something new, but... No, if she somehow found out, I'd never hear the end of it."

"Hiya, Mister Discord!" the Crusaders greeted in unison as the spirit of chaos approached.

"Huh? Oh, it's you three," Discord said, sounding disinterested. "Having fun, are we?"

"Well, yes, actually," Sweetie stated, not missing Discord's dismissive tone. "Doesn't look like the same can be said about you, though."

"Yes, well, we grown-ups have a lot to think about," Discord stated matter-of-factly.

"Hey, don't write us off just because we're a bunch o' fillies! Maybe we can help!" Applebloom said, offering a friendly smile.

Discord sighed. "I'm sorry, you three. I'm just up in arms…" He paused to snap his fingers, causing several skeletal arms that were very human-like in nature to burst out of the ground and lift him up off the ground, the unsettling situation causing the CMC to scream in fright. "…Because I promised Fluttershy I'd do something nice for her in accordance with the current holiday, but when it comes to ideas, I'm drawing a blank." He snapped his fingers again and the horrid arm bones were gone and Discord was standing upright once more, now wearing a cowboy hat and holding a flintlock pistol in one hand. He held it skyward and fired it, a little banner emerging from the barrel of the gun, the word 'BANG' written on it in block capitals.

"Well, if you're still able to joke about it, then it can't be all bad," Sweetie assured him, but she was a little apprehensive. The undead arms had really spooked her, having taken her and her friends completely by surprise, though not as much as they had spooked Scootaloo, who was now cowering behind the snowpony the CMC had made, peeking out nervously. "If you're not sure what to get her, then maybe you should try looking around town for inspiration."

"Y-yeah. There's lots of shops around here that sell some really cool things," Scootaloo commented, still trembling. She tried to compose herself before she continued, "I'm planning on picking up something neat for Rainbow Dash later, now that I think of it."

"Hmm. Not a bad idea," Discord mused, appearing thoughtful. "I just might try that. Now if you'll excuse me, my little ponies, it would appear that I have some window shopping to do." With that, he started to walk away, heading in the direction of Sugarcube Corner.

"That's weird. Ah thought he was gonna conjure up a window or somethin," Applebloom admitted.

Discord suddenly teleported back to where the Crusaders were. "You asked for it!" he declared, snapping his fingers and causing a huge window frame to appear out of nowhere. He stuck his head through it. "I've been… framed!" he cried, grinning like a lunatic. The Crusaders just groaned loudly at his bad joke.

"I'm gonna go see Twilight about that hat," Scootaloo said, shaking her head as she set off towards Twilight's castle.