"Others were more bothered." It was Harmony, calmly standing there. She didn't breathe. She didn't blink. She was still. Well, she was a tree? If a tree pretended to be a pony, that was a pretty good description of what Comforting was seeing. Grasping that idea made it more comfortable in a way. Harmony was trying their best, likely. It would be rude to berate them on doing a surprisingly good job, for a tree. "None of them asked me to come back."
"Hello," chimed Comforting, smiling at her odd friend that only visited in dreams. "Can you come when I'm awake or is that not a thing?"
"If you are in the right place," advised Harmony. "It is easier when you are dreaming. Are you being polite?"
"I hope I am!" Comforting dashed around Harmony, looking her over. "You do a really good Twilight impersonation, like Ocellus."
"Some say changelings came from a tree." Harmony did not turn to face her as Comforting dashed about her, happy enough to remain still and wait for the filly to run back into view. "There could be truth to it. You feel more like one of mine than last time. Is this a life you enjoy?"
"Yes," cried Comforting without doubt in her voice. "I have a mother that loves me, and friends that care about me, and there's so much to learn, but no pressure. I'm learning because I want to learn." Her little horn began to glow its soft brown shade. "I'm a child again, and I'm enjoying it."
"And the company? You do not mind that you are the only of your kind?" Harmony inclined her head, but her eyes didn't waver, staring out into the distance. "That doesn't bother you?"
"I'm not that anymore." Comforting waved that away. "I had a whole life of being human, a long one... A good one, I say... No regrets, but it's done. Now I'm a little pony." She lowered her front, tail wagging as if she were about to pounce something. "I will make the best of this one."
"A good attitude." A faint smile touched her lips. "But it is not perfect, this life. No life can be."
"A perfect life sounds incredibly boring." Comforting pounced forward, getting closer to Harmony, not that the tree spirit seemed bothered by the motion. "Perfectly boring. I don't need a lot of excitement, but I also don't need that. This, right now, is a good balance." She nodded as she thought of it. Her new life was sedate and calm, but had new things and experiences. It was a fine ratio.
"Your past means nothing to you?" There was a question in the voice, but little emotion.
"Not nothing..." Comforting rubbed at one of her little cheeks before grinning at the tree that was a pony. "But I can't go back, right? So what would... What else can I do? Thank you for coming back!" She suddenly clapped her hooves. "I'm happy you did. You can visit again. I go to the school of friendship, have you heard of it?"
"I have. It is a place of me. A place that draws creatures together." Harmony leaned forward. "I had not planned, or saw, a human being one of those creatures, but you are a happy student there. A willing captive, as you said."
"Not a bit of resistance," half-sang Comforting, wiggling her hooves as if she were caught in a net. "Just waiting for the friendship spider to notice I was there and pump me full of its terrible poisons."
"I would never." Not that Harmony sounded very offended. Emotions were not a thing they were very good at.
"Yes you would," argued Comforting with a great smile, clearly not having much fear of those venoms. "Question! Are you a girl? Do you have a gender?"
It grew quiet. Too quiet. Harmony was looking off the distance, as she tended to do, unmoving, unspeaking.
"Was that a rude question? Sorry..." Comforting shrank a bit in fear she had offended her god-like friend. "I was just curious."
"To have a gender," spoke Harmony, suddenly resuming life. "I have to seek a partner to create life with. I do not do this."
"That's still a gender," giggled Comforting. "You're asexual, and that's alright, well, part of it. It doesn't tell me if you identify as a girl, boy, neither, something else?"
Harmony leaned forward, nose twitching faintly as if trying to discern some scent. "No pony has ever asked this of me. One moment." And Harmony vanished entirely. Comforting's dreams just resumed as if nothing had happened. Imagine her surprise when her swim through whip cream to negotiate a peace treaty with the devils was interrupted by Harmony returning. "I am both."
"Oh!" Harmony wetly splat to the ground, shaking off the whipped cream from her aborted dream. "Hello. It's nice to know, just to know. I don't know good pronouns for that though, hm... Do you prefer he, she, they? It?" She curled a hoof to her chin. "I sound very silly right now, but I want to address you respectfully."
"You are very thoughtful for a filly. Those titles are all fine." Clearly Harmony did not have a very strong attachment to their gender. "I will not be offended with any of them. I should go, and you should finish your sleep."
"See you next time!" Comforting got out a spirited wave before she was distracted. Her dreams had returned, and she had to make sure the house was cleaned or the bees would become agitated. It made perfect sense, in the dream.
Comforting was sitting at a school desk, but it wasn't a class, at least, not a class filled with students. It was just her and her teacher. She was smiling brightly with her book spread open before her, hoof on the page. "I have most of the letters down."
Twilight looked surprised. "I... what? I expected you to come to me after you got glowing and telekinesis under control."
Comforting tapped at the book with increasing excitement. "I'm doing that now. I can glow." Her horn began to glow a soft brown over the area. "And I can lift." She plucked up an apple from the desk behind Twilight, bringing it closer. It glowed brown too, though Comforting was starting to see the difference in glows she could see and glows everypony could see. "Ta da?"
"Very good!" Twilight applauded the mastery of young unicorn skills. "Can you keep it steady?" She angled her horn at the apple. "Perfectly still, to the count of ten."
"I'll try." Comforting stared at the apple, willing it to stay perfectly in place. Twilight was counting out loud. 1, 2... 3... She made it to six before the apple wavered, a little bob. "Aw."
"No, very good." Twilight resumed her applause. "Six seconds, not bad at all. Only time and practice can extend that. For your age and time spent learning, you're doing quite well." The apple's glow changed colors as Twilight easily replaced Comforting's will with her own. It was an odd sensation, as if someone had slipped their hand under hers and nudged her away. She had no grip on the apple anymore. Twilight set it down on Comforting's desk. "And you already want to learn your first spell?"
Comforting joined in the clapping, pleased at the praise. "If I may?" She tapped at the open book, set to the page that started the instructions on the first spell. "I was thinking of trying it myself... but thought better of it. Magic's... a big deal, and having a skilled user around in case I make a mistake, or even better to stop me from that, sounds good."
"A mature outlook." Twilight hiked a brow at her responsible student. Still, a good thing by most measures. "You said you learned most of the letters, so show me a Ghu." Comforting's glow shifted subtly. "And a Reh?" A new faint variation.
Comforting raised a hoof. "How can you see what I'm doing? I'm not glowing."
"Hm?" Twilight perked up, ears going up. "Oh. I can feel the magic you're... It comes naturally in time, but I don't see anything. Do you? That remains an interesting ability. But back to the task at hoof." She set her hoof on Comforting's little horn. "Do you know how to go from one letter to the next?"
"No." Comforting was not at all hesitant to admit what she didn't know. "Can you show me?"
"I think I can, especially since you can see magic." Her horn began to glow the dim color only Comforting could see. "Ghu." And it shifted instead of stopping and starting. "Reh. Ghu-Reh." She demonstrated how one flowed to the next. "This is a standard transition, used most often, but there are others."
"Ghu-Reh." Comforting stuck out her tongue a little, snout scrunching with concentration as she performed her best Ghu and tried to smoothly slip over to a Reh.
"Not quite. Now... I know you are very eager to try this spell, and I can't blame you." She giggled suddenly. "I remember learning my first spells. I was so excited." She clasped her hooves together. "I couldn't control myself, but I ask you to do exactly that. Practice transitioning from letter to letter instead. I know that's not nearly as fun, but..."
"Okay." Comforting deflated a little, given more homework before the fun could really begin. "Thank you. At least I know I'm getting closer."
Twilight demonstrated a Ghu-Reh with her horn. "Since you've seen what it 'looks' like, you know what yours should look like. When it looks more like mine, we can proceed." She waggled a hoof at Comforting. "That's quite an advantage. Maybe your cutie mark will be magic related." She leaned to peer at Comforting's blank flank. It could become anything...
"Maybe." Comforting was far from convinced, even if eager to learn more. "I will practice, promise. Oh! I did learn a little spell."
"You did?!" blurted Twilight in disbelief. "Please, demonstrate," she hastily said, trying to calm herself. She pointed at the apple right there in front of Comforting. "On that, if it's a valid target?"
Comforting bid the apple glow, and it did. "Very nice, but that's not a spell," noted Twilight. "Still, very nice. Good work." Even as her teacher applauded gently, Comforting was focusing on twisting things just right. Much like her eyes seemed to change colors depending on the angle they were viewed, the glow shifted suddenly, becoming a deep purple. "Oh! Oh? Oh..." Twilight leaned in at the new color. "That... How did you do that?"
Her confusion was enough to distract Comforting, the glow stopping. "Did I do it wrong?"
"N-no... If you meant to change the color." Twilight pawed at the ground with obvious thought. "Can you change it again?" Which Comforting obediently did, shifting the apple from brown to yellow to a pale pink. "Remarkable... That should be a spell, but you're not..." Twilight sat back, crossing her arms, one hoof bobbling. "A talent. You didn't use any letters, right?"
"Nope." Comforting let the glow fade. "Talents are normal, right?"
"They are," quickly got out Twilight. "Don't feel bad, just know that most unicorns don't change their colors on their own. It may shift with their mood, or over time, but their color is their color, minus using a spell, which you aren't." Her horn glowed with its raspberry shade. "My magic used to be lighter, but became darker over time. It was a natural shift, not forced or caused by me, though I could..." Her glow shifted subtly, a spell being cast, and her horn became lime green colored in its glow. "Ta da! There is a spell for that."
Comforting giggled, clopping her hooves in applause for the trick, even if it was one she knew how to do. "How do you control which color?"
Twilight's brows went up. "The answer I use wouldn't work for you. I'm casting a spell, you are not. You'll have to explore your talent. Sorry to say, but practice practice--"
"--practice," finished Comforting with a wry smile. Some things were universal, even in a new universe.
"I know what's going on." Rarity looked quite smug. "I'll talk with her tomorrow and clear this entire thing up, dears."