//------------------------------//
// 20 - Awakening 
// Story: New Endings, Old Starts 
// by David Silver 
//------------------------------//

Comforting stretched on her temporary sleeping bed. Sun was coming in from above, but various barriers muted the light. The covering of the trees and the tent she was in did a good job of preventing a bright spilling. Despite that, Comforting reached for the zipper and pulled it down to see a bear. Fortunately, she knew that bear. "Harry?"

Harry grunted in an animal grumble, looking at her evenly for a moment before wandering off. Comforting could see the campsite was mostly just as they had left it. "Nice to see you?" Harry didn't pay as much attention to her as he did to Fluttershy. She emerged out and shook off to hear a whisper coming from another tent.

"Is it gone?" The voice was male. Pony? No, wait, Comforting knew that voice. It was Sandbar. 

"That was mom's pet bear. He's really nice." Several zippers sounded at once as the other campers peeked out. "I mean it! He's harmless."

Silverstream poked her head out, the rest of her following. "Are you sure about that? We woke up to the sound of some gigantic animal sniffing around and we mighta freaked out a bit."

Comforting spread her hooves at the rattled teens. "I promise, Harry is a friend of Fluttershy's and wouldn't hurt anyone, um, any creature that didn't hurt him first. I think mom feeds him." How a bear ate while bothering no one was beyond Comforting, but they had clearly worked something out. "You're safe, I promise."

Sandbar folded up his tent and got it packed quickly. He went for Comforting's without delay. "Well, since we're not being chomped, we should get back."

Comforting waved her hooves wildly at the fleeing creatures. "Wait! I wanted to ask you about your times with Harmony. You met her, right? I know at least one of you has." They were peering at her with confusion. "She looked like Twilight? 1000 yard stare?"

Gallus nodded. "Oh, yeah, met her. Perfectly happy not doing it again." Noises rose in general agreement. 

Yona poked the little inquiring pony. "How know? We promise not to tell anycreature. You told?"

Comforting squeaked in dismay as she backed away quickly. "I didn't tell anyone!"

Smolder was there for Comforting to bump into. "She meant, did anycreature tell you?"

Comforting wheeled to face Smolder, though the multitude still trapped her securely between the students, closing in on her from all directions. "I wasn't told! I ran into her myself."

Gallus snorted at that. "Yeah? Did she give you a test then? You musta passed, you're here. What was it like?" The others agreed with the question in a rising chorus of questions.

But Comforting didn't have that answer exactly... "She still visits me sometimes, and asks things."

Yona blinked slowly. "They ask you?"

"They seem curious?" Comforting smiled awkwardly as she tried to back away, but there were no directions to go. "It's complicated, but I like them. They're nice."

"Dangerous." Yona sank to her rump. "Give excellent lesson, but difficult. Like a strict teacher!" Yona waved a thick hoof at Comforting. "Why so comfy?"

"That's what I was asking." Smolder shrugged, despite never actually asking that. "She was testing us, not even hiding it. What'd she do to you?"

Gallus crossed his arms with an impatient tapping of a foot. "Yeah, was she making you face things?"

"No?" Comforting wondered what sort of things the others had seen, but struggled with how to share without exploding her source. "Harmony was... She had questions." They didn't look satisfied. "Because I know some things?"

Ocellus perked with new curiosity. "What do you know? It must be something amazing."

Silverstream bobbed her head. "Wow! Are you going to share? Blow our minds!" She made an explosive gesture with her hands with a faked kchoom of a noise.

Sandbar suddenly stepped over Comforting. "That's enough." He was staring down at the others. "You're scaring her. She's a friend, so let's not get all weird about it."

Yona waved her hooves negatively. "Just curious."

Smolder waggled her brows. "Yeah, curious. She's obviously special, somehow. I want to know more."

Sandbar wasn't moving, serving as a living barrier. "So ask her later, when she's not on the spot like this." He looked down under himself at Comforting with a smile. "You don't have to tell me. Want to head back?"

Comforting scurried out from under the earth pony. "Yes, please." She dipped her head towards the others. "It was nice camping with you all." She rubbed her forehooves against each other for a moment. "It was fun." Even with that last part. She went off with Sandbar, back towards civilization.

Gallus threw up his hands. "Guess we'll never know what was up with that."

Smolder ribbed the irate griffon. "Think of the long game." She flashed a dangerous smile. "Comforting wants to be here. We'll get more chances to ask when she's less worked up."

Yona frowned at the two of them. "Or just not ask!"

Ocellus rubbed one leg with the other hoof. "I don't want her being upset. If she doesn't want to talk about it, that's fine. We didn't want to talk about our time, right?"

Silverstream shrugged at that. "Wasn't that mostly because of the other little pony?"

Gallus huffed at the memory. "At least she did something for us in return. This one's just holding her secret. What is it with little ponies and big secrets?"

Yona began lumbering towards town. "Not make trouble. She good little pony."

"I agree with her." Ocellus was at Yona's side as they headed away, back to town.

Silverstream considered the other two members of their clique with hands. "You're planning something, aren't you?"

Smolder raised her hands. "Who, me? As if!"

Gallus chuckled softly and slipped Smolder a high five on their way out of the camp when Silverstream wasn't looking.





"Welcome back!" Fluttershy gently hugged her little filly. "Oh, are her things in there?" Her eyes had gone to Sandbar's backpack and its jingling contents. "I'll take those."

"Yep." Sandbar went to unload everything that wasn't his onto the ground in front of himself. "She did great."

"That's wonderful to hear." Fluttershy ferried the goods into the house, but was out in a flash to rejoin Sandbar and... "Where did Comforting go?"

Sandbar pointed into the same house. "She went inside. She seemed a little... sensitive about something, so I let her go." He considered for a moment. "Do you know anything about a sparkly Twilight?" But Fluttershy looked quite clueless. "Nevermind." He wagged a hoof quickly. "She did great, though! She even told a great story."

"I'm glad to hear that." Fluttershy considered the earth pony in front of her. "They didn't pick on her, I hope? She's a dear, but she is a little... odd for a pony."

"Yeah..." Sandbar stepped in place for a nervous moment. "But she got along with everycreature. I think she likes us." He smiled at the thought. "It's nice."

"Having the attention of a little foal can be nice." Fluttershy nodded slowly. "But also taxing. They trust us to take care of things and sometimes get themselves into trouble. Are you alright with that?"

Sandbar thumped himself on the chest with a sure smile. "It isn't even the first time I helped with a foal, um, not that she is that... all the way..." He sank to his haunches. "As Yona said, she has old eyes. But I like her, old eyes or not." He tapped near where his eyes rested, even if they weren't ancient."Oh, did you know she's friends with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon?"

"I ran into them." Fluttershy was smiling with joy. "They seemed to be good friends. Why do you ask?"

"I think she wants to help them get into the school." Sandbar leaned in. "So we're going to test them to see if they're ready for it before she asks Twilight about it."

Fluttershy's smile was broken into blinks. "Oh, that's a good idea. If I can help? Do they really want to go to our school?"

"Apparently. I'm going to check on that too." Sandbar turned in place with his less-burdened backpack. "But, for now, camping success! Thanks for letting her go."

"Have a safe trip back." She waved as he headed off. Not that there was much left to go between her little cottage and the rest of Ponyville. "Thank you!" With that handled, she turned back to the house and plodded inside to see where Comforting had gone.

There was no little pony in the living room, nor in the kitchen that she could see. There was only one other place that her ward could be hiding, though Fluttershy hesitated in front of that door. She knocked gently in barely a tapping on the wood. "Comforting, are you in there? I mean, it's alright if not, I was just checking..." The doorknob turned, its glow entirely unseen by Fluttershy, but it was hint enough that she could press past it.

Comforting perched on her haunches on the bed that made her look somehow even smaller than she was. "Hello, mom. I'm not trying to hide, promise!"

"I wasn't worried that you were hurting me, Comforting." She closed the door behind her and tread gently into the room. "I hear you had quite the evening with the others, so I thought, maybe, if you wanted, you could share about it?"

Comforting considered the large pegasus that was her adoptive mother and caretaker. "You're friends with a force of nature, mom, so you know what that's like, right?"

That caught Fluttershy off guard. "Force of nature? You mean Discord? I suppose you could call him that, if you wanted, and it might make him happy to hear that..." She tapped at her chin with an obvious reflection on the moment. "Oh, um, but if that's what you mean, then, yes, I have some experience with being a friend with a force of nature. I prefer to think of him as a loving creature, even when he loses his way sometimes."

Comforting clapped in applause that translated to clambering to her hooves and stomping on the springy mattress in a pony sort of applause for her. "I knew you'd understand, but I have a friend of my own and she is very nice for a force of nature." She tapped in place. "But she is still a force of nature and I understand that and... This is harder to explain than I thought."

Fluttershy sank to the side of the bed with a gentle and caring smile on her face. There was no tension in her at all in addressing Comforting about dealing with a force of nature. "Are they nice to other creatures and yourself?"

"They are quite nice to me and I'm always happy when they visit me." Comforting took a slow breath as she flopped down to her haunches and then to her side in a boneless gesture. "I'm not sure how they do with others when I asked about it and the way they responded made me really nervous!"

Fluttershy raised a hoof and set it on Comforting in slow pets from the top of her head down to her tail in slow strokes that came at first with no words to accompany them. It was a quiet time between mother and daughter and neither seemed upset to just spend the time in each other's company. Only when things were sufficiently calm, did she speak up, "Sometimes, Discord will do naughty things, or even just plain mean things! I have to chastise him and explain why he's doing something that can hurt a pony's feelings, but he listens... in his own way... and we fix it for the next time."

Comforting perked up as an idea came to her that brought a big smile to her face, and she sat up with the energy of it. "So I just need to talk to her and tell her why she might have scared the others!"