//------------------------------//
// 30 - Satisfaction in Success 
// Story: New Endings, Old Starts 
// by David Silver 
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Comforting circled on the bridge, but that didn't make him appear. "You're late!" She had developed a routine! He always came around that time and got right to it. That day, no Clean Sweep. "Hope you're not sick..." He had seemed in fine health the last time she had spotted him. "Did I mess up?" She imagined chasing him away with a smile, doing more harm than good. "I was too eager..."

But she had a school day ahead, and she turned her thought to that instead. It was at that moment that she thought of homework, and the relative absence of it. She went to school to do school stuff, and home to do anything else, and she liked that. Minus magic. Magic was extra, and she happened to like it. She raised her hooves as bright purple flowers covered them along with her giggles. She had that spell down pretty well. It was just the surprise part she had to work on.

Fluttershy was just awful at surprising ponies, it should be noted. Noise was not her thing, and she didn't like interrupting a pony that looked busy, being a polite and gentle soul.

But she had other friends! She scurried off as she considered; was Fluttershy a friend? She was her adopted mom and caretaker. But moms could also be friends, last she checked. It wasn't an assured thing, and the mom status took precedence. A friend may cut you slack for some things a mom wouldn't, for instance. At least the good ones. And Fluttershy was a good mom.

Comforting was smiling to herself with joy when she found the others, on the road and walking at a sedate rate as they chatted. "Diamond, Silver! Got a moment?" She hurried up to them, focusing on the present. "I need your help with a little something, though it'll probably be a bit long term."

Silver angled her head to the left. "Long term? Like, what do you mean? Also 'morning."

"'Morning," agreed Diamond Tiara. "You sure look excited about... something. What's up?"

"I need someone to surprise me." It was in that moment she realized. She could see magic, but most others could not. How could they surprise her?! "Oh..."

Diamond hiked a brow as Silver adjusted her glasses. "You look like you just remembered something."

"Yeah..." Comforting crashed to her haunches. "I need to  be surprised while I do magic, but it's not obvious when I'm doing magic."

Silver leaned in. "'Course it is. Duh, like, you get way distracted." She pointed to her glass adorned eyes. "It's really obvious if you know what to look for, like you're doing a bunch of math in your head."

Diamond nodded firmly. "It's actually hard to miss. You never watched a unicorn do magic?"

Comforting had, of course, but her attention had been always on their sparkling horns, not the features of their face. She smiled with growing hope. "Good! So if you see me looking like that, this is an open invite to surprise me. Not every time, or it'd be predictable." She willed flowers at Silver Spoon just to get tackled by Diamond. "Ah!" The spell fizzled into Brussels sprouts instead of flowers.

Silver Spoon blinked at her new vegetative covering. "What did you just do?" She pawed at herself, brushing them away with obvious irritation. "That wasn't funny."

Diamond sat up, letting Comforting rise. "Duh, I distracted her, and her spell went funny. It was pretty funny, if you ask me."

Comforting scrambled to her hooves with an angry snort, her nostrils flaring. "You're better at this than I thought." She did her best to work herself down. She had asked for that, literally. "Is everyone alright?"

Silver Spoon shook herself free of the sprouts that were falling to fading bits. "I'm alright. I'll blame that on Diamond."

"Hey!" Diamond pouted at her friend. "I was asked to do it."

"I did ask her..." Comforting inclined her head at the two fillies. "Thanks for helping. Any time you see me like that, maybe surprise me. Not always! Even knowing you're around and could surprise me will help me get better." She clapped with suddenly rebounding joy. "And then I get to learn my second spell!"

Silver joined in the clapping. "Ooo, will it be a fancy one? You have to share. That's the trade. We help you and you show us first."

Diamond nodded. "That's a fair trade. What do you say?" She leaned closer to Comforting with a calculating smile.

Comforting saw no harm in that. "I can't promise it'll be flashy, or not. Twilight'll pick one and teach it to me... I hope it's useful." She waved her head at a rock that sprouted flowers. "Making flowers is fun, won't lie."

Diamond threw a hoof over Comforting and drew her closer. "And you're getting better at it. Now you just have to watch out, because we're watching, and we'll strike when you least suspect it." She released Comforting and resumed her journey to school with Silver Spoon at her side, the two giggling with impish delight.

They would, perhaps, enjoy their new job a bit too much.





Comforting made it to the bridge right on time, but waiting resulted in nothing but the soft burble of the stream under her. "That's strange..." Clean Sweep was usually so punctual! Maybe he was early? She put a hoof on the gate as her magic grabbed it and gave a pull, but it just rattled without opening. "Huh..."

She had to wait like anypony else until Twilight and Spike arrived. Twilight nodded. "Good morning! Eager to start a new day of education?"

"Professor Twilight." Comforting dipped her head at her headmistress and her brother, also adopted, much like herself. She had no stone to throw about that. "Where's Clean Sweep, if you know?"

Twilight perked an ear. "Hm? I thought you were responsible, truth told."

"Responsible?!" That was a dangerous word at the best of times. "What'd I do? Is he alright?"

"He's just fine." Twilight waved for Comforting to calm down.

Spike leaned in from above. "He's joining the school, um, joined, past. I didn't see his schedule."

"I did." Twilight nodded with serene confidence. She probably made the schedule. "He'll be in your fifth period, Comforting, and you should see him at lunch. Oh." She angled her head at Comforting's back end. "Did I miss something?"

Comforting curled to view and saw her cutie mark pulsing gently in signal of a completed cutie quest. "I didn't... But..."

Spike snapped fingers from both fingers into a finger gun. "Congratulations! But I don't remember seeing your cutie mark over the map."

Twilight drew the confused filly closer and hugged her. "It's alright. Not every quest ends as directly as one might hope. Now how did you get a cutie quest? We watch the map closely."

"It's half my job when Twilight's not around." Spike snorted with a grin. "And it didn't glow any time we weren't expecting it."

Did she tell the truth? Was there a reason to hide it? "Do you know Harmony?"

"The Elements Of?" Twilight inclined her head. "And The Tree Of--? It's a concept for a basic principle. Why?"

Comforting sprang away from Twilight. "Discord is a spirit of chaos, right?"

Spike shrugged expansively. "Not sure what else to call him, yep!"

"Now imagine a spirit of harmony." Comforting worked her hooves together. "A kind and loving creature, but still a spirit, and just as confused in a lot of ways in how ponies work, up here." She tapped at her head. "That Harmony."

"Hm." Twilight advanced past Comforting to will the door open, her key unlocking it easily. "Clean Sweep will want to see you, I imagine. If this was your cutie quest, you were very involved, even if you didn't get to finish it the way you wanted to."

That was nice, but also off topic sorta. Comforting kept up with Twilight easily. "She's very nice, but she needed help, and she asked me."

Twilight leaned to the side to allow Spike's dismounting. "Harmony asked you? Directly?" She pointed at Comforting's rump. "And she gave you a cutie quest?"

"Yep!" Comforting stood as tall as she could. "Which I just finished, apparently. My first one."

Spike patted himself down lightly. "I remember my first one." His eyes widened and iris' shrank. "Wow, I remember that! That was a little confusing. It used my head since I don't have a cutie mark." He shrugged softly. "Still called me."

Twilight nodded with an obvious uncertainty. "Like mother, like... daughter? And you are friends with this Harmony?"

"Good friends!" Comforting jumped, skipping her hooves together before she came back down. "She is the tree, um... physically?" Was Harmony limited to that physicality? It seemed not so far. "Don't make it a big deal. She's very shy."

Twilight nudged the gates open in either direction. "I was imagining the biggest thing on my plate today was getting a new janitor. Clean Sweep can't be a full-time student and a janitor at the same time, and I'm very proud of him, even if it leave me in a lurch..."

Comforting sprang up the stairs, hitting the last facing back down them, tail wagging eagerly. "So why not use us?" She pointed at herself. "Cleaning duty's important too, and it gives us a chance to chat and get closer and learn to work together."

Twilight approached the stairs at a casual pace. "That's very nice of you to volunteer, but you're volunteering a lot of creatures that are not you." She started up the steps. "I don't feel right asking the entire student body to accept a new task like that. They've come here to learn about friendship."

"But they will!" Comforting followed when Twilight went past her. "There's a lot you can learn from that, especially together. Trying won't hurt. You have great students."

"Which you are one of." Twilight's magic easily plucked up Comforting, causing her to float along with Twilight. "You have a big idea, and I approve of the general thought, but why not test the waters first?" She set Comforting just to the side of her office door. "If you can get a petition with at least fifty signatures by the end of the moon, I'll reconsider. How's that?"

Comforting's irritation as being so casually moved faded quickly into a bright smile. "I'm on the case!" She dashed off towards her first class, crashing into Silverstream on the way. "Sorry!"

"Hey there." Silverstream helped Comforting right herself. "Did I miss something? Is this a big pony holiday? You gotta tell me!"

Comforting shook her head quickly. "Even better!"

Silverstream clapped her cheeks with both hands, talons pressing to her beak from both sides. "Even better?! Now you have to tell me." She released herself to flop towards Comforting. "Go on! Go on!" Her tail was wagging at a new pace. "Please!"

"Alright, so..." The cheerful hippogriffon was, perhaps, a proper challenge. "Imagine if we could all help, together, as a big group." Comforting spread her hooves. "Like a daily thing to keep the school all shiny for us to learn in."

Silverstream sat up. "Huh? I... Hm..." She stroked her beak thoughtfully. "Oh! Would it be like a game? Maybe see who, or what team does the best job?" She began to clap, bouncing on her rump. "I'd do my best!"

"That could work." Comforting curled on herself, a paper floating out in her magic. "To start, I need signatures from my fellow students."

"Got it!" Silver snatched the paper away and soon signed it. "There you go! Oh, I'm the first one." She giggled as she offered the paper back. "I'm not usually the first, so that's exciting, too. You'll help, right?"

"Of course! I have to get the signatures first." Comforting floated the paper to hover beside her head. "Then, when it starts, I'll be right there, helping everycreature clean up!" She used the right word with extra emphasis. "Let's clean up our act!"