New Endings, Old Starts

by David Silver


13 - Two Horns, One Magic

"You have an advantage." Ocellus was smiling, she often did when she wasn't nervous about something.

Comforting inclined her head. "What advantage? The eye thing?"

"The eye thing!" cried Ocellus in agreement. "The flex you have to do to change colors there is close to the right one you need to do magic."

Comforting clopped her little hooves on either side of her head. "Why is everything related to my eyes?"

"Luck?" Ocellus shrugged softly. "But it means you just have to work on going from one color to the next, smoothly." She coiled on herself and drew out a rainbow, a drawing of one. "When you can go all the way from here." She pointed at the purple part. "To here." She pointed to the red side. "No skips, no jumps, nice and smooth, you'll be taking care of two things at the same time."

Comforting began to clap with obvious excitement. "If they're similar, then we should go over the eye tricks. The things I learn there, I can use up here." She pointed up to her horn.

"Most ponies can't do that." Ocellus wobbled from left to right. "They don't shapeshift, at all, even their eyes, so how much those line up doesn't help them much." She considered visibly a moment. "Are you really alright?"

"Why would I not be alright?"

"I mean... with me? I've turned into you, twice now! Doesn't that... bother you? It bothers most others..." Ocellus worked her hooves together, nervousness building rapidly. "I don't mean to bother you."

They reminded Comforting of Rarity jumping back with surprise when she managed her eye color. "I... know how you feel. Besides, seeing me is... not new." She could remember when she was in two places, one an old lady, one a filly. She could see both sides, looking at one another. They were both her, though each was their own person, in that instant. She shuddered softly, unsure how to feel about that. "I know what it's like, to scare someone like that."

"How?" Ocellus was leaning very close, but she wasn't a scary thing. It was hard to be scared of the little changebug, even when she was invading Comforting's personal space, while Ocellus was so busy being scared of Comforting. "How can you know?"

Comforting tapped at one of her eyes as it changed colors with each tap. "I matched Rarity's eyes, and it scared her. She recovered... but it scared her... It wasn't good, knowing I made her flinch like that."

"You do know," admitted Ocellus in a weary sigh. "I really don't like that, when somecreature gets scared of me. I don't want to scare anycreature."

Comforting offered a hoof and soon had an Ocellus to hug gently. "Well, you can thank Discord."

"Discord?!" Ocellus danced away. "How did he help? Helping is not a thing he does a lot unless your name is Fluttershy."

"Who is my mom." Comforting nodded with the confidence that it all made sense.

Which spread to Ocellus. "Wow, neat. So he's nice to you?"

"I've only seen him a few times." She put her hooves close together. "But he seems nice." Not even the only force of nature she met, as she thought about it. "But he let me see me before I met you, so seeing me again wasn't a first thing."

"I've seen me!" Ocellus clapped softly. "You just can't grow up a changeling and not see yourself at least once, and probably a few times." She leaned in close at Comforting, sending her scrambling back a few steps. "You have more in common with a changeling than I first guessed."

Comforting recovered quickly, even bursting into a little giggle, imagining a bunch of little changelings becoming one of their number just for fun. "That must get very confusing."

"A little." Ocellus bobbed her head. "But it's good practice. Just like you're going to get." She tapped at her own head. "Get those eyes the right color, no magic."

"Aw." That was literally the opposite of her original plan! "Why does it all take so much practice?" she grumbled as she sat down, drawing out a hand mirror in her magic.

"Not sure." Ocellus shrugged at the philosophical question. "But it does. Let's go over some stuff." And she did her best to tutor Comforting on how to change, like a changeling, even if she could only do so with one specific bodypart.

"Snack time!" A time later, Fluttershy nudged open the door with her snout. "Something for the both of you." She came in, a platter held above her head on her wings. "You two are working so very hard."

Ocellus hopped up to an upright and proper position as Fluttershy came in. "Ma'am!"

Fluttershy blinked. "We're not in school. I'm just Fluttershy right now."

"Oh..." Ocellus crashed to her haunches.

Comforting giggled softly. "What'd you bring, mom?"

"Just some snacks." And down came the tray, revealing a variety of cookies and granola type offerings. "Don't want to ruin your appetite for a proper dinner. How are things going in here?"

Both young creatures grabbed a cookie in their magic, chomping with pleased looks on their face. "Thank you." Comforting nodded at her caretaker. "Ocellus has been showing me tricks, to change better."

"Oh, yes." As if Fluttershy had just been reminded. "So it is like a changeling?"

Ocellus raised a hoof. "Exactly the same! Except one teeny part." She pointed to her own eye. With a rush of flames, the eye became feline, long and pointed, then a wide bar like a goat, and back to a nice normal round thing. "And just colors... I think?"

That was a new idea entirely. Comforting brought her mirror over and tried to imagine having those odd eyes, like a cat or a goat, but her eyes refused to be anything other than round, though the colors shifted with her attempts, varying a bit wildly in her flailing.

"Oh, my." Fluttershy could see the wild colorations going on. "How interesting! Does that hurt?"

"Nope!" Comforting reached out a hoof just to do a slow circle over her own head. "Like stretching in new ways, but it doesn't hurt. Well maybe a little... like stretching in new ways!"

Ocellus nibbled away at the cookie held in both of her hooves. "I remember that, but it goes away with practice... like stretching in a new way!" They both giggled at the shared joke.

"Well, I'm glad you have a friend to help you with this." Fluttershy nodded at Ocellus. "And thank you for taking your time with this. I'm sure you have other things you could be doing."

"She's a friend." Ocellus offered a hoof instead of going for a hug. That worked better to secure said hug, squeezing Comforting close. "I like helping friends, and it's really nice to have a pony that understands what it's like to be a changeling, even a little."

Which only inspired questions in Comforting. "How little can you get?"

Ocellus hummed softly. "I never tried that, specifically, um, how about..." A rush of flames and Rarity's cat was there instead. "That?" Rarity's cat couldn't talk, but Ocellus still could.

"Kitty!" Comforting gently patted the changeling-turned-cat. "That's so cool."

Fluttershy giggled at the demonstration. "Don't show that one to Rarity."

"I won't!" With a rush of flames, Ocellus returned to her usual self, still being patted but not really seeming to mind it much. "Show Fluttershy how you're doing."

"Oh, right!" Comforting looked to Fluttershy, meeting eye to eye. Not in a challenging way, but how else did one show off their colors? She bounced from Red to Green to Blue. "Ocellus taught me to start with the primaries. They really are easier."

Fluttershy applauded the progress. "Very good, Comforting. I like your natural color the best. You're delightful just as you are."

"Aw." Comforting burst into fresh giggles. "Thanks, but I do want to learn that. Um, apparently magic isn't that different, so figuring this out will make magic easier."

Fluttershy was looking to Ocellus. "That goes for you too."

Ocellus blinked widely, a trick changelings were good at. "What goes for me?"

"You are perfect just the way you are." She brought a hoof down to pat Ocellus as Comforting had a moment before. "While you both can change, you're also great at the start."

Ocellus took her turn to giggle much as Comforting had. "Thanks!" She hopped once towards the door. "I should get going though."

"You are welcome to have dinner here." Fluttershy extended a hoof. "It's the least I can offer for helping Comforting."

"Are you sure?" Ocellus glanced at Comforting, who was busy bobbing her head. Fluttershy was just smiling. "Well... alright..."

So a proper dinner was had with company. Fluttershy chewed softly on her food at the front table. "Ocellus, you said Comforting's changes were like yours?"

"Yep!" Ocellus cried out. "Exactly the same. If she were a changeling, she'd already know how to do it, some of it. A little bit of it." She held up two hooves together.

Fluttershy considered Comforting as if from a new angle. "Do you think you have some changeling in you?"

Comforting blinked at the idea. "I don't know. Would that be bad?" She waved at Ocellus. "The changelings I know seem pretty nice."

That got a happy smile out of Ocellus. "We try to be!"

"And most of you do a very good job." Fluttershy took a little drink from a cup. "It's so nice, that we can have all these creatures, together." She smiled warmly at the two of them. "And that my foal would become friends with them all so quickly! I didn't expect that."

"They're fun," argued Comforting a bit defensively. "I like them all, in different ways. I'm still not sure how to get through to Gallus and Smolder... They have a tough outer shell."

"Scales," advised Ocellus in one pointed word. "She is covered in scales, and they're very tough."

Comforting burst into new giggles. "Not like that! I mean getting to know them. You, I understand."

Ocellus blossomed into a bright shade of red. "You do?"

"Not entirely," admitted Comforting with a shrug. "I never met your family, or know what your favorite color is, but us..." She waved a hoof between herself and Ocellus. "I feel like we see eye to eye. I like you."

"I like you too." Ocellus snapped up some of her food. "And this is really good. Thanks!"

"You're quite welcome." Fluttershy ate slowly, the most mature in the room when it came to how she ate. "Do you want a walk home afterwards? It's a little distance away."

Comforting waggled a hoof excitedly. "Let me! I'd love to see Ponyville at night, or evening." It wasn't quite night yet.

"Are you sure?" Fluttershy raised a brow at her eager foal. "You want to walk alone, back from the dorms?"

But Comforting was waving that off with a pfft. "It's through Ponyville. Ponyville isn't scary." That she was not Fluttershy was clear. "I'll be careful, promise." She hopped down to all fours. "Let's go, Ocellus!"

"Oh, okay!" She slid down to join Comforting. "Thank you, um, miss Fluttershy." Calling her just Fluttershy was a thing Ocellus couldn't do without thought.

"You're quite welcome. Be safe, both of you." She watched as the two fillies vanished out the door. "I hope this goes well..." She stepped to the window to see Comforting trotting towards the town next to Ocellus. It looked like the two were talking, but the words were quite lost through the window and the distance involved. "You do look happy." Fluttershy smiled, seeing how much joy her child had in walking alongside Ocellus. "I should... relax... It is just Ponyville." She turned away from the window. "They'll be back before I even know it."

She got to cleaning up the table from what the foals had left behind. They were dear and darling things, but they had rushed out so quickly that there was quite a mess for her to handle. Such was the fate of being a caretaker. "Just come back safe... Maybe I should have gone with them."