Amber Starts, Comforting Endings

by David Silver

20 - Toot Toot

Comforting walked leisurely through the streets of Maretime Bay, enjoying the sights and sounds of the pony metropolis. There was so much going on around her. The city itself was always filled with activity. Everywhere there was something to see and do. Ponies were heading out of the city for the day, going to jobs, going to school, or just going to visit someplace else. There was a special joy to that.

Ponies greeted each other as they passed. Comforting made an effort to meet the eyes of the ponies she passed. "Hello there. Good day?"

"I'm good. You?"

Comforting winked at the pony. Her efforts were paying off, as most of them seemed alright with her strange presence among them. "Excuse me." A rounded stallion with an unsure smile stood before Comforting, bouncing a bit in place. "Um, ma'am? Could I ask you something?"

Comforting inclined her head. "You sure can, and you just did, but let's go for two." She curled her long tail behind her, considering the stallion. "What do you need? Are you okay?"

"Yeah." The stallion patted at his shirt. "I'm just wondering if you'd like to join me for a walk? I have the day off and I wanted to spend some of it with a pretty mare."

Comforting colored and laughed, but she stifled the laugh as quickly as she could. "Sorry, sorry! That's not at you, just, I wasn't expecting that question!" She curled a hand to her chin. "Also, I'm pretty?" That wasn't the word she expected the random pony to assign to her.

"Yeah, you are!" The stallion pointed at her mane. "I like the style. You seem interesting, so, is it weird that I want to walk around with you? If so, that's fine."

"Don't be so quick to give up." She reached to gently tap the stallion on the nose with a draconic finger. "You were already brave enough to walk up to me and ask me out. Don't collapse this far in. Now, the only thing in the way is I have no idea who you are. She flashed her teeth in a bright smile. "So tell me a little about you."

"So hi!" Toots rubbed behind his neck, grinning sheepishly at his outburst. "I'm Toots. I've lived in Maretime Bay uh, since forever ago." He leaned left and right a little. "I've been watching the library. You're, um, doing a good job."

Comforting reached for his cheeks, not finding resistance as she cupped them. The chubby stallion gave her even more pony cheeks to ruffle. "Thank you, but Amber is the head librarian. I'm just an assistant."

"Y-you don't fool me." Toots looked away with a tense laugh. "You do a lot. Um, so, hi? Can we walk?" He walked in place and tossed his head in the direction down the street. "It's a nice day."

Comforting followed after him. "It is. So, what do you do?" She smiled with interest at this little pony. "For a job? Do you like it? Is that why you're off work on a Tuesday?"

"Oh! Um." He struggled to recover from the shock of the questions rolling in, but began to leak details as they walked along, enjoying the day and the company. "I had a question too. Are you a pony?" He lifted a hoof to make an upward slash on the same line as Comforting's midsection. "Your middle looks like a pony, and your head. If this isn't an awful question. Sorry if it is." He raised a hoof in front of his mouth.

"It's fine. I get that question a lot." Comforting snorted at her little joke. "But I am, if you mean spiritually." She shrugged as she lifted a few inches, floating along with Toots. "I was a pony, a long, long, really long time ago. Those are the parts you can see now." She grasped her own cheeks, making a smooshed face with a giggle. "And I still love them, ponies that is. They're so cute!"

"I'm cute?" Toots blushed brightly, glancing at the ground. "You don't have to say that."

Comforting put a hand to her own chin. "But I do. I don't lie, it's bad for business and friends, so I'd only call you that if you were." She suddenly zipped in. "Yep, a cute little pudgy stallion; I love it." She landed on her own feet gently. "Now, what's your favorite ice cream flavor? I think I owe you at least a treat."

"What?! No!" Toots gasped and hopped in a little circle. "No, you don't."

"Okay, I don't owe you." Comforting crossed her arms. "But I want to get you an ice cream anyway. Or a smoothie? They're popular, and I don't mind giving a friend business." She giggled as she gave her hip a gentle push to the side. "It's nice to see the local ponies I can give a good word to, for sure. And you've earned it."

"You're the one doing me a favor." He sank to his haunches. "Today's been a busy day, but the good kind! Um, I'll take this over disasters anytime. You're way nicer than cutie-mark stealing vines." He shivered at the memory. "So, why ice cream? Like, I know what it is, but that's a little forward of you, isn't it?" He glanced nervously at her. "If you don't mind me saying so."

Comforting started with clear surprise. "I'm a little out of date on things. Is giving ice cream part of the pony mating ritual these days?"

That had Toots looking ready to pass out. "N-no! Sorry. Um." He rubbed at his cheek furiously. "I'm messing this up. Look, you don't have to give me anything. I'm just glad to have your attention for a little while, it's been a crazy couple of weeks." He wiggled with obvious joy at that thought. "So let's get to that intersection, and we did it." He pointed ahead of himself down the street. "Right there."

Comforting reached to muss the top of the flustered stallion's head. "Sure." She resumed her steps lightly alongside him. "Your tie, by the way, is adorable." Even she didn't know why some ponies sometimes wore tiny bits of a shirt like that, but it never failed to make her smile at the absurdity of it.

Toots beamed proudly at that, adjusting the blue fabric. "I can show you more of my collection sometime, if you like." He offered her a grin. "It's more than just ties, and I like to dress up. They say a pony is what they wear, and I happen to agree with them." He reached up a hoof to adjust his tie in a moment of self-conciousness. "It hasn't failed me so far."

"What's this?" Comforting chuckled. "Is that a little pride I hear? Good for you. I mean it. There are a lot of things I enjoy that I have to hide, so it's so important to share the things that you are, no matter who you are. Or what you are, come to think." She did a sudden loop around Toots. "I'm not a pony, not anymore. I'm a spirit."

Toots recoiled. "You're dead?!"

"Sorta?" Comforting shrugged. "But not that kinda spirit. The kind that keeps the world spinning properly. That sort." She winked at Toots. "You don't believe in spirit?" She floated up with a silent woosh. "What do you think I'm doing? Gravity is optional with spirits, especially chaos spirits, which I am."

Toots bounced back from that idea. "Chaos? As in the queen of chaos?"

Comforting smiled a bit too wide. "You could call me that. I don't have too much competition." She curled her tail around to tickle Toots under his trembling chin. "Stop that, we're already friends. I wouldn't hurt you, or anypony else in this lovely city. It's my city too. I want everypony to be happy." She turned and flashed her most winning grin. "Wouldn't that be great? To be happy, all the time?"

"Ugh, yes please." Toots finally seemed to calm down after that proclamation.

"But only for a little while." Comforting held up two fingers close together. "Being perfectly happy all the time would get a little boring after a while." She slapped her hands on her hips. "Tried that before."

Toots perked. "Before? Like, recently?"

Comforting scratched at the tip of her chin. "Centuries ago. A good chunk of that time, I wasn't quite myself, but that's a whole different story. Don't you worry about it. Still, bad idea, avoid that." She took a firm last step, reaching the end of the block. "Even a happy life has little moments in it if you let it, excitements, and that's alright."

"Oh, that's true." Toots nodded rapidly. "Like today? I didn't expect this." He gestured back towards the library. "I mean, um, thank you; for the walk, that is." He offered a hoof towards her. "Maybe another time?"

Comforting grabbed his hoof and gently shook it. "Sure. Nice to make a friend." With that, she darted away, sailing through the air back to the library.

That left Toots rocking a bit in place before he snapped to the present with a rush of clarity. "Wait, we didn't exchange numbers!" He leaned and swayed a little, realizing there was nothing to be done about that now. "Well, um, okay. I know where to find you."

---

The sun slowly rose over the horizon, casting the sea in a soft red glow as it filtered through the light haze over the water. Amber strolled down to the beach with a few others. She spotted Hitch as they approached. "Hitch!" she called out, waving at him and Sparky on his back. "Enjoying the beach too?"

He waved back. "Hi, Amber! Yes, we are." Sparky beamed at Amber from his perch on Hitch's back. "We're here to see the sunrise and maybe catch a wave or two."

Sparky made excited noises, bouncing atop Hitch with a giggle, though none of it approached a word.

Amber smiled at the little dragon. "Sounds like he's ready to tame those waves. Guess you're the lucky pony." She tilted her head back as a cool breeze ruffled her mane. "It's nice to take it easy, huh? Have you seen Misty?"

"I know, right? Misty? I walked past her coming out of the brighthouse." He pointed to the towering building in the distance. "She looked busy, but I didn't hear what with."

Amber perked. "Hmmm. Did she seem happy?" Amber considered Misty's recent troubles. "Or even busy?"

"She was carrying a clipboard." Hitch nodded to Amber, putting a hoof to his chin. "Busy, but not unhappy. She's, uh, it's an awkward time."

Amber started at that, glancing back at the other librarians with her. They also looked concerned at the news, so Amber pressed on, "Do you know why? Can we help? She is a member of our little family, so if we can help, we want to."

"I'll let her know. But it's not simple." He reached up to pet Sparky. "She used to live with Opaline, and we just, uh, defeated her, so, you know, Misty's feeling things, a lot of things." He shrugged with a sigh. "All we can do is be good friends."

Amber nodded firmly at that. "Poor thing! I'll give her an extra hug and offer a shoulder when I see her. I won't keep you though. Sunrise is getting started for real."

The two shared a wave, going their separate ways along the coast. Amber made her way down to the shoreline where the librarians already started to lay out a blanket. The first rays of sunshine pierced through the cloud cover. It was shaping up to be a beautiful day.

Laughing and trading snacks, they enjoyed the cool wind before a pony pointed. In the water, Sparky was riding Hitch like a surfboard, doing remarkably well at handling the wave they were riding.

"Isn't that sweet." Amber inclined her head with their motion. "But I hope they don't get hurt."

The wave broke, sending both Hitch and Sparky into the water with a yelp, but they surfaced a moment later, laughing.

Author's Note:

Surf's up! Also Comforting got propositioned. She's not used to that.

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Comments

[redmar]

It was nice to see Toots again. I like the fact that Amber asked about Misty and naturally wants to help her friend.

[Amethyst Dragonfly]

Toot likes Comforting? That's sweet.

And surf's up!

[Twinkie Sprinkle]

Comforting's conversation with Toots was fun, and him crushing on her is unexpected and cute.

Weirdly, I've always remembered his face but didn't know his name until now...I just kept thinking of him as "Canterlogic Guy" and didn't take the time to actually check if he had a proper name.

Opaline being defeated opens up a lot of possibilities. Though in Misty's case, that's naturally a lot to handle, at least for now.

[David Silver]

11859673

Comforting's conversation with Toots was fun, and him crushing on her is unexpected and cute.

Comforting isn't sure how she feels about that just yet, but is willing to not just shoot the stallion down as a first move.

Weirdly, I've always remembered his face but didn't know his name until now...I just kept thinking of him as "Canterlogic Guy" and didn't take the time to actually check if he had a proper name.

He has another job now! Even if none of us know what the heck it is.

Opaline being defeated opens up a lot of possibilities. Though in Misty's case, that's naturally a lot to handle, at least for now.

Poor Misty's processing things, but she has two loving families at least?

[Twinkie Sprinkle]

11859855

Comforting isn't sure how she feels about that just yet, but is willing to not just shoot the stallion down as a first move.

Totally reasonable.

He has another job now! Even if none of us know what the heck it is.

Kind of hilarious in a way. But also good for him.

Poor Misty's processing things, but she has two loving families at least?

Definitely good that she has lots of people to turn to when she needs them.