"This feels odd." Comforting cracked open an eye to see a copy of herself standing there gazing out into the middle distance. "You have changed things."
She was dreaming. That her bed was soaring through the sky was a hint. Harmony stood in the air calmly, as if that was just a thing one did. In a dream, perhaps it was. Comforting sat up on her bed. "What changed?"
"The world." A pause came then. "You. Them. Everything around you. I can't see as clearly, and it worries me. I am used to seeing through untainted glass." Harmony worried her hooves together. "Is this how you feel normally?"
Comforting considered her godling of a friend. "I'd like to help, but you need to say what you see normally, and now don't."
"There was trouble coming. I think it is still there. I can't be sure." Harmony bounded up atop the bed in one powerful leap. "One small pony turned to mal... I should not say. Maybe I should? You have no part, but you must. Are you here? You can't not interfere." Harmony scowled as she shrank in herself with clear indecision. "I don't like it."
Comforting could hear the worry in Harmony's voice. "Can I help?"
"I think you can." Harmony focused on Comforting for a change, looking directly at her. "But I don't know how." The dream ended casually .
"Ready?" Sandbar was at their door with a big smile. "They're waiting for us."
Fluttershy saw Comforting to the door. "Now, be safe, and look out for predators. They're hungry too, but that doesn't mean I want you taking care of that for them."
"I won't." She hoped! Becoming a snack was not what she had in mind. She scampered out to join Sandbar, and they set off on their journey. "Have you gone this way before?"
"Me?" Sandbar had a big backpack on that jingled with each step. "Sure. Oh, right, first time camping?" When Comforting bobbed her head, he swerved a little closer. "Don't worry, we have your back. Got to admit, a little surprised. A little filly like you wouldn't normally dare unless they were with, say, a parent or something."
Comforting raised an ear at the older pony. "I'm not that scared." She came in closer to him. "I have friends who are all kinds of creatures." She imagined them with a silly smile. "And they're pretty tough and they like me and I like them, so it'll be alright."
"Good attitude." Sandbar inclined his head as he went. "But what about me? I'm not a creature, or tough."
"You're a pony, like me." She dashed between his legs to the other side of him. "And that's nice too." A thought wouldn't leave her. "Say... Have you seen a pony that might seem like somepony you know, but looks out?" She put out a hoof. "Like they did not focus them on you at all?"
Sandbar looked ready to deny that, but the words didn't quite make it out. "Um... why?"
"I've seen her." Comforting came in closer to Sandbar. "She's nice."
"She... is." Sandbar flicked one ear back, but it recovered quickly. "Are we talking about the same creature?"
"She's hard to miss. Distant stare seems nice, a little detached, but not in the bad way?" Local god, but Comforting kept that to herself. Equestrians didn't seem to do the god thing, except for Discord, the spirit of chaos. He got a pass, for some reason. "Not technically a she."
Sandbar leaned in at that. "What do you mean by that?"
"Well, she's more of a... concept. A lovely one." Comforting skipped alongside Sandbar. "I like her, but she's more of a tree, I suppose, and those don't come in guy and girls."
"Huh..." He squinted a moment. "Tree?"
Comforting realized at that moment she had, perhaps, said too much. "Like a tree!"
"Like a tree." He set a hoof on her bouncing head. "You are crazy. But really, you saw her?"
"I think I did, yes, a few times."
"Few times!" Sandbar pointed ahead. "We're almost there." He glanced around the darkening woods. "Don't wander away, okay? We want you to be safe."
"And have fun." She paused just long enough for a spirited clap and easily dashed back to Sandbar's side. "You have my stuff in your bag?"
"All of it." He jiggled his bag with the various stuff in the bag. "Hey guys." He was getting close enough to address the others.
Gallus fired a thumbs up. "Hey. You have something stuck to your hoof." He was watching Comforting with a smirk. "Just kidding. Welcome aboard. We won't make the stories less horrifying just because you're here, warning."
Comforting waved at Gallus, but was turning to Silverstream. "Hey, we barely got to talk."
"Hi!" She grabbed Comforting suddenly, to the little filly's tense displeasure. "You are the cutest little thing." That helped calm her a little. "I wasn't sure how to say hi, but I meant it. Does that count? Are you ready to camp?" She threw one hand wide. "We're gonna tell stories and eat snacks and have fun!"
Comforting giggled as she stepped away from the clingy hippogriff. "That's all I've been told. Snacks, stories. Is there another part?"
Yona inclined her gigantic head. "We here, under stars." She leaned off against her tent, the largest of the bunch. “Also talk lots. Share.” She wobbled a hoof between herself and the other students. "You smallest, but welcome. " Yona leaned in on Comforting. “Not small where count.”
Comforting perked an ear at that. "What counts?"
"Everycreature's here!" Smolder clapped loudly. "Only two of you are missing tents. Let's get those up right quick so we can forget about them until we pass out." The others cheered at her idea and practically attacked Sandbar to get the other tents free and set up in a whirlwind of youthful action.
Comforting slipped next to Yona as they worked. "What do you mean 'what counts?'"
Yona inclined her head. "Old soul, new body. Yona hear of it. Never see it. Now see it." She nodded with the confidence they knew from her people. "You strong, um..." She fished for the word. "Case. Ex... Exam..."
"--ple," added Sandbar. "Example?"
"Yes, example." She bobbed her head at Comforting. "You powerful example. Young in body, old in eyes." She leaned in almost nose to nose. "Makes Yona curious. Welcome."
Comforting considered the sizable yak. "I'm just a filly."
"Yes, filly." Yona reached and soon knocked Comforting over to rub her belly and extract giggles from the filly with that moment's permission. "Young in body, old in eyes."
Yona bounced to her hooves. "Sometimes Yona wish she were old in eyes. Lots Yona not know, but learn." She tapped at her enormous head. "Why at school, to learn more? Why you go school?"
Gallus snorted softly. "That's a brilliant question." He pointed at the small filly that was Comforting. "Why do you go to school? You seem to know most of what they teach. You're not always great at it... but you know."
Smolder waved it away. "She knows some stuff, but she wouldn't even get a passing grade at dragon school." There was no dragon school, not that this bothered Smolder.
Ocellus raised a hoof to her chin. "You don't seem to look at things sideways like us."
"That's not true." Comforting clopped down a hoof. "I get confused all the time." Human ways were not pony ways. "I just... don't get upset?"
Ocellus grinned at that. "I don't get mad either."
Yona bobbed her head. "Not angry, curious." She offered a big hoof. Ocellus joined it, looking at Comforting.
She offered her own to join with a smile. "Curious club?"
Ocellus bobbed her head. "Curious club!"
Smolder threw up her hands. "I get pretty angry sometimes. Ponies are weird." She sank to her butt near the crackling fire. "But I still want to figure them out, which includes the rest of you."
Gallus snickered, seated across from Smolder. "As if dragons aren't pretty weird on their own."
"You take that back!" But Gallus would not. Unfortunately for him, dragons could pounce straight through fire, which is exactly what Smolder did. The two wrestled for dominance after a surprised squawk at her motion.
Sandbar settled where Smolder had been. "Let's get cooking!" That got a fresh cheer as he got out the supplies and everycreature gathered closer to help roast things, sweet things, to perfection.
"I'm pretty curious too." Silverstream was sitting next to their smallest guest. "I don't get mad often, just a little overwhelmed. There's so much new stuff! I just want to grab it all!" She reached for the air, but the wind was just as resistant to being yanked up so easily. "But I can't, so I learn a little at a time." She leaned in at the small pony. "What are you learning? I hear you're going over magic. You a great wizard now?!"
A great wizard was quite an overestimation. Comforting shook her head quickly. "I have the eye changing down... Wanna see?"
Ocellus raised a hoof quickly. "She's great at that!"
"Red, Blue, and Yellow!" Comforting's eyes went along with the declared colors. "And some colors in between." She flowed more smoothly to green and brown and purplish hues as she went one way and the other. "Ta dah!"
Ocellus sat up. "Hey, you got better at that."
"Practice." Comforting tapped at the side of her head even as her horn glowed to turn around her skewer. "Is it that better?"
"Good enough to try some magic." Ocellus was clapping with undisguised joy. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"I didn't know." Comforting stuck out her tongue at Ocellus. "Hey, any of—"
"Ready!" Gallus cared little for the ongoing conversation, instead plucking free his skewer. "Be sure you get the right one. We don't all eat the same thing."
Smolder grabbed hers. "We do." She tapped her skewer to Gallus'. "Not that a little veggie would kill me."
Comforting eyed their skewers with less revulsion than a pony that they clarified they were chomping on meat. It had been quite a while since she had any of that...
Sandbar noticed with a tilt of his head. "Uh... Comforting, why are you eyeing their food?" He grabbed two skewers of pony safe meat free and offered one to Comforting. "This is yours. Nice and tasty."
Comforting grasped her skewer with her magic. "Thanks." She tried to find the words, but was coming up empty. A new skewer poked her lightly. She jumped with surprise to see it was Smolder offering her a little of what she had left on the stick. "What?"
"You looked hungry." Smolder wagged the skewer in front of Comforting. "Never saw a pony look like that, so I wanna see you finish what you started. Go ahead." It wasn't a lot left. Smolder had a good appetite. It was still a good mouthful. "Chomp it."
Sandbar flicked his ears back. "You don't have to."
Gallus snorted at Sandbar's defense. "Not like ponies can't eat it, they just don't usually."
Yona and Silverstream were watching closely, but not interfering. On Silverstream's skewer was a whole fish, well, half a fish. She had hungers!
Comforting took a bite of her own skewer. It tasted of seasoned potatoes with a good amount of veggies mixed in. Good, but there was the meaty one hovering in reach. She leaned up and snapped it off the skewer. With a wrench of her head, she ripped it free of the stick and got to chewing. She expected more problems, but ponies had all the teeth required.
She could chew sedately on the new, old flavor. "Mmm..." Whatever meat they had used, it was a good one and seasoned just right. Was it better than the pony one? She decided not. They were equally good in different ways.
"Wow." Sandbar inclined his head slowly. "I heard of fish, but that?"