Ponies laughed and danced at the party. The music filled the air with excitement. Each pony stomped and cheered. Togetherness felt a similar kind of energy. As her friends explored and had fun, she remained a patient observer. The test had been completed, and they were rejoicing in a time of peace until the next one. This pleased her.
She had even given a gift, a reward. Misty was cherishing it, and would, perhaps, use it in the next test.
Elsewhere, Allura trotted along the beach with a thoughtful tilt of her head. The sky was dark with clouds, hiding the moon from her sight. The gentle lap of the waves upon the sand was a quiet caress of sound in her ears. "Miserable ponies," she growled out, tail lashing behind her. "You're weak, useless, and yet, they cling to you. Why do you let them, Allura? Do you have a weakness for them? Do you?" She shook herself, calming herself down.
Her eyes swept the shoreline with a low snort. "I would know if you were here." Her gaze locked forward. "Wouldn't I?" She shook herself out with a huff. "At least, it's not so blastedly hot during the night."
***
Comforting swatted the door shut behind her. "You okay?" The statue had no response for her as she wandered up to place her hands on the cold stone remnant of her pony wife. "I miss you." But the statue could not respond. It was just a statue. Her eyes flicked down to the base, reading the inscription over and over. "For my friend and her bond, may this memory last a thousand years." She dragged her fingers down the chilled stone.
She shivered with clenched teeth. "I won't do that." She turned from the statue. "I have to accept the new day. He isn't nearly as captivating as you were, my dear. He's very straight forward. You were always so scheming and cunning." She sat herself down and curled up with a sigh. "You'd find a way to talk me out of it if you knew what I was thinking." She closed her eyes. "You and Together."
There had been a time she could hug both Diamond and Together, once Harmony. They had been great times, but, like all times, that had passed. "It's not fair to judge him like that, based on other people who aren't even around anymore." She huffed gently. "I'm sure he has a deeper side, but I'll have to dig a little instead of just looking at the surface."
She smiled to herself a little. "He is cute, in a rolly-polly way that makes me want to squeeze him." She giggled, shaking her head. "I am not into that kind of thing, I swear. I just like the shapes and sizes of bodies."
There was nothing. No answer or reply. It was just her, and she was used to that. She gazed up at the unblinking and eternal gaze of her old girlfriend. "Yeah," she sighed out. "It's like that." She stood up, stretching. "Crying at your statue won't get me very far."
She floated up to touch the muzzle of the statue. "I hope you're happy, wherever you are. You deserve to be happy. I love you." She floated away from the statue with a sad little smile. "Goodbye, for now."
Comforting waved the door open and departed from her home, back to the living world to meet its challenges.
She did not expect to run face-first into a wall of soft fur on doing so.
Allura took a step back with a grunt. "You, what?"
"Flying without looking, sorry." Comforting zipped upright, hovering in the air. "Aw, look at you." She circled around Allura curiously. "A pretty kitty cat! Hello!"
Allura considered the strange creature that was Comforting. "What even are you?"
"I'm a spirit, of chaos. Nice though, promise that." Comforting touched down with a hop, leaning in to tap her larger yak horn against Allura. "And what are you?"
Allura growled low and deep in a very feline way. "I am—I don't have to tell you! Why should I? A spirit? What even is that?"
Comforting blinked at her with her golden eyes, their shape foreign, and her pupils slits. "You really don't know? Who are you then?" She reached out, feeling along Allura's soft fur gently. "I like it, but I don't know it."
Allura swatted Comforting's questing fingers away. "Are you so touchy with every creature you run across?"
"Every one that lets me." Comforting laughed at herself, rocking back and closer to Allura. "But I'm serious, at least give me a name so I don't say 'hey, cat.' That feels rude."
Allura straightened up and puffed out her chest. "I am Allura." Her ears twisted in place, listening to the surroundings. "You have to be able to tell I'm not a real cat. No housecat am I." She lashed her tail, glaring at Comforting. "Don't you know fear?"
"I try to avoid it." Comforting shrugged. "Not too much comes along that gives me a reason to be scared. Should I be scared of you?"
Allura purred, a soft vibrating noise that penetrated all through Comforting's form. "I could hurt you, quite badly, if I wanted."
Comforting laughed softly. "Yeah, you could. I'm a spirit of chaos. It's not the first time a being has tried to hurt me."
The purring only grew louder. "Or I could tell you to sit."
Comforting felt it, the urge to sit. She decided to play along, sitting down in front of the large feline.
Allura nodded. "Very good." She patted Comforting on the head, still purring. "Now, do you know where the Nova Charm is? Tell me, little strange creature. Tell me."
Telling her felt like the right thing to do. Comforting internally batted away the forced command, but played along despite it. "I don't know what a Nova Charm is, tell me about it?"
Allura rolled her eyes. "I swear. It's a rock that can open a portal. It's how I escape this heat! If you don't know where it is." She leaned in close enough to touch her nose to Comforting's front. "You can help me hunt for it."
Comforting's tail curled. "You want to leave, eh?" She shrugged a shoulder. "I don't see why I can't help with that. I need to get a certain pony her magic back anyway, and it's somewhere around here, so why not?"
Allura sat with a confused expression. "A pony their magic back? How did they lose it?" She shook her head slowly. "Did their horn fall off? That would be funny to see."
"That is not how it works." Comforting reached up to adjust Allura's fur casually. "If you want to stick around, you're going to have to learn about the place, and its history."
"Who has time for that?!" she almost roared out, but she forced herself back into her gentle purring, sure she could control Comforting. "Go into that city of theirs, find the charm, and report back to me."
Comforting found it harder to resist this command, but still she did. She raised her arm and her yak horn glowed. "You need a guide. Come with me."
Allura jumped back, landing on her haunches and staring in horror at Comforting's glowing. "What are you doing?"
Comforting waved a finger. "Spirit. I can glow if I want to." She lifted into the air. "I can be the best friend you ever had."
A rabbit approached rapidly and began yammering something at Allura.
Allura huffed. "What? Twitch, speak clearly."
He repeated himself a bit slower, speaking in his strange rabbit way for her.
Comforting pulled down some goggles out of nowhere, enabling the closed captioning on the conversation.
"You've been gone all day," translated the text on the goggles. "How dare you! We've got stuff to do! I have stuff to do! I saw an abandoned, broken cart and wanted to see if there's anything worth salvaging!" He clapped his paws and threw his arms in the air. "Then you didn't come back." He slumped into a miserable heap, kicking a paw weakly.
Allura huffed gently at Twitch. "You're this excited about a broken cart? Why should we care about a broken cart?!" Her words were clear without subtitles, though they came anywhere.
Twitch pointed off into the distance. "Because the cart started moving!" The rabbit's sounds were gibberish, but the words were clear. "And I saw it! I saw the Nova Charm! A pony had it!"
That had Allura's attention. "Did they? Then we need to be there." She jumped forward and Twitch hopped on her back. Without even glancing at Comforting, she raced off to get the Nova Charm, whatever it was.
Comforting watched them go with a hum. "I feel a test approaching." She flashed a growing smile. "And it has a mean, but cute, kitty in it. I like it." She turned back to face the forest, putting her goggles away. "Alright, we need to get ready."
With a burst of magic, Comforting vanished away from the world and into the chaos between dimensions.
She popped back into the world back in the library, touching down on a desk in front of a surprised pony. "Oops, sorry." She gave them a gentle pat and hopped over their head to leave them to their reading. She floated towards the section of the library dedicated to her.
"What a lovely young man." She grabbed a book or two that had been placed on the shelf incorrectly and returned it to its proper spot. "Now, hm." She looked for her usual suspects. Amber was at the front desk, chatting animatedly with somepony else. The usual librarians were about doing their job.
Misty wasn't there. "Sometimes it's the one that's missing that gives you the best clue." Comforting clapped her hands together and brought them apart, forming a window in the air. The window displayed Misty with Sunny and the other ponies of the Bright house, enjoying themselves at a new carnival. "Where'd that come from?"
Misty giggled with Pipp. "This is amazing! I've never seen so much fun at once before."
Sunny bumped Misty softly. "Isn't it? Izzy, you did a great job!"
"And I got rid of the blocky wockies!" Izzy danced as she capered about the carnival. "I hope everypony has a great time here!"
Misty marveled at the beautiful colors of the park and the decorations, so alive and vivid. "I've never been to something this nice before. Thanks for inviting me."
Sunny looked aside at her with a small smile. "Izzy bounced back, and it's amazing." She hopped at Izzy, hugging the unicorn. "And what an amazing thing you've made for us all."
Izzy patted Sunny's back. "We all work together! We make it possible!" She gestured all around with a grand sweeping of her arms. "We did this!"
Misty inclined her head. "But you were the one that did it. We only got here after you made this."
Izzy threw a hoof with a ripe raspberry noise. "I only could do that because I had you all as friends to inspire me." She tapped at her temple with a grin. "It's in all of us, to make something wonderful, or even just a little better."
Misty gave Sunny a quizzical glance.
Comforting turned, moving the window with her. She spotted Allura skulking off, looking displeased. "Didn't find that charm? Hm." She closed the window on the scene, pondering what it all meant. "Together, you are a tricky tree!" She crossed her arms and pouted. "Fine, fine. I get it."
She looked all about. "Well, the future is secure. That's good. I should check in with my coltfriend." She colored, realizing what she had just said. "With me friend, who is a stallion. We didn't go that far just yet." She glanced in a nearby mirror, giving herself a bit of a wink. "But I know he'd like to. Maybe soon." She zipped over to her books and flipped through them. "What section would have what modern ponies expect when they're dating anyway?"