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// 32 - Cleaning Up Your Act 
// Story: New Endings, Old Starts 
// by David Silver 
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Comforting rushed for the door. "Meet you at school!" But the knob rattled instead of turning, even as she inclined her head left and right as if to increase the sympathy with the turning. The door would not open. It was locked? "Mom?"

"Sorry." Fluttershy slid to her hooves. "But today is not a school day."

Comforting blinked slowly. "Pretty sure it is..." She turned back to her caretaker. "Do you have the dates mixed up?"

"I do not." She walked up slowly and sat in front of Comforting. "Today is a relaxation day. Your assignment is to relax and enjoy the day."

Comforting recoiled with clenched teeth. "Did Rarity put you up for this?!"

"She might have mentioned what was going on." Fluttershy reached for Comforting and wasn't prevented from gathering up her filly. "But she did not make up the idea, or force anypony. This is my idea. Today, we will just be. I've already called out and explained that I'm taking you with me. We'll go to a park and enjoy the sun... If you... We'll do that." She aborted her soft speech for more firm words. A mother had to be stern at times. "But I do have a surprise for you, and I think you'll like it quite a bit, if you play along."

Comforting side-eyed her adopted mother. "And by playing along, you mean doing a lot of nothing."

"All nothing." Fluttershy gently nuzzled her side. "I'll have a nice picnic lunch ready for us, and we'll just enjoy the day. No work. No responsibilities. Just you and me, relaxing."

Comforting weighed her options, but escaping her well-meaning mother felt like an impossible task without hurting her feelings, which she didn't want to do. Maybe... she could just relax a day? Would it hurt anything? She opened her mouth, ready to ask about grades, but ponies didn't have end-of-semester grades. She had been doing her work. If she kept doing her work after the break, she'd pass. Huh...

Pony life was not human life. "Alright."

Fluttershy smiled radiantly as she grabbed a large basket and started for the door. "Then let's go and relax. You know, I haven't taken a break in a while either. This will be good for the both of us." She was able to get past the door easily, with Comforting grabbing and opening it with her magic before she even finished arriving at it. "Thank you," she said around the handle in her mouth.

She set the basket down just outside. "Now, I had a few ideas for where we'd set up. We can do it right here." She waved a hoof slowly over the lawn. "Familiar, safe, cozy... Or..." She lifted her hoof to point further. "By the lake, especially nice if you enjoy swimming. "

Choices! Comforting looked between the two. The lake had more ponies, but mostly adults. The foals were at school. It also had water, and a few other distractions that a front lawn just couldn't offer. Hm. "If either... That one." She pointed to the lake with a nod and starting her trek. "That looks fun."

"That's the idea, a fun, relaxing time." Fluttershy began following her instead of the other way around, since Comforting could see the target. "Don't go too far. There's no hurry. This is a day with no hurrying."





Ponies could swim. Sure, she had seen them swim in the show, but actually doing it was something else. Her little hooves could gather enough water as she paddled to propel herself along at a sedate rate. She had no hands to grab it up, but it was good enough to dog paddle peacefully along to wherever she wanted to be.

"Having fun?" There was Fluttershy, on the shore and stretched out. Her eyes were on Comforting, but not in any piercing way.

"Yes!" Swimming was way more fun than she would have guessed originally. Her young pony body just wanted to move, and swimming ticked that box quite nicely. She burst into little giggles as she cut lines across the pond in no particular hurry.

"Are you playing hookie?" A stallion was watching her on another shore. "I won't tell."

Comforting hiked a brow up at the stranger. Well, he was a strange pony. That already put him half a step up from most strangers by her reckoning. "My mom's over there." She pointed at where Fluttershy was resting.

"Oh." He glanced over at the pegasus and back at the little unicorn. "I didn't think..."

"Adopted." Fortunately, that was not a sensitive topic for Comforting. She knew they adopted her from the moment it happened. "And I love her very much."

"That's nice to hear." He seemed to relax as things made more sense. "Have a pleasant time." And that was that. No suspicions and no attempt to stop her from playing. He was relaxing too, and he didn't bother her.

Part of her, a small part, wondered how he'd react to being splashed, but that would be mean-spirited. She batted away the idea and instead slowly made her way back to Fluttershy. As she emerged from the water, an urge came over her. She shook out in a way that animals did, sending water flying, but doing a fairly good job of drying herself out.

Her mom was on her in an instant, toweling her off the rest of the way to warm and dry. "If you're ready for a break, why don't we have lunch?"

Lunch comprised daisy sammiches. Unappealing to human tastes, but entirely delicious to pony ones. Comforting made happy little noises as she devoured it just to have something new pressed against her. It was a thermos. She popped it open with her magic, a sweet smell emerged. She poured it out into the cup of the thermos and drank it down eagerly, confirming that someone(pony, likely) had made a fruity elixir for her to enjoy. "This is great, Mom."

"I'm glad to hear that." She patted her filly on the head gently. "I admit, I thought you'd be more... upset."

Comforting went quiet a moment before she beamed. "I wasn't expecting it, but it's still a day with you, so I can't rate it too low." She raised a hoof up as if it were the rating of the day. "What was that surprise you mentioned?"

"That's still a surprise." Fluttershy took a much smaller bite of her sandwich, not finished with her much more timid nibbling. "Just enjoy yourself for now. In fact, it's such a nice, warm day. Why not relax with me?" She offered her hooves with outstretched arms.

Too tempting an offer to deny. Comforting snuggled into the offered embrace and found that sleep came too easily in the combined comfort of her mother's grasp and the sun's gentle touch.

"Hello."

Comforting blinked away what she had been doing in her half-formed start of a dream. "Harmony!" She smiled at the not-Twilight standing before her in the space that defied definition. She couldn't exactly tell where she was, as if it didn't matter. "Huh..."

"You are just falling asleep." Harmony leaned in slowly. "Would you like me to leave?"

"No!" Comforting hopped to her hooves. Had she been sitting? She forgot, and it didn't matter much. "It's good to see you. I fixed Clean Sweep's problem."

"You fixed one, there are others. It is up to him to address them. As his friend, he may ask for your help."

"And I will give it." Comforting tapped at herself. "If I can. Is there another problem you need my help with?"

"You are relaxing." Harmony as Twilight waved a portal into being, showing Flutershy napping and holding Comforting, who was also asleep. "I am not here to disturb that."

But that had already happened. Comforting decided not to bring that up. "It's still nice to see you. Maybe on a school break, I can ask about visiting you personally."

"You don't have to do that." Harmony looped around Comforting, just to crash into the lake and have to swim through it as if Comforting had just remembered it was there. Not that this stopped Harmony. "You aided Equestria, but you are not beholden to do so."

"I would again, if you asked me."

"You should not say that." Harmony was close to her, nose almost to nose. She had not approached, just suddenly close. Even as Comforting squeaked in surprise, Harmony inclined her head faintly. "I may take you seriously."

"Why... is that bad?" Comforting caught the breath she didn't have in a dream. "And don't do that! You surprised me."

"Equestria has countless problems, small and large. If you give yourself to me, I will give you things to do." Harmony sat where she had been standing. "If you are a part of me, why would I not? Like an arm, I will reach with you to see things done. A reliable hoof. I may come to depend on you. The better the tool you are, the more likely this is. This is the natural order of things. Do you want that?"

"You're trying to scare me." Comforting stomped each hoof in turn, eyes on Harmony. "Scare me away. Stop that. You're a friend. You can always ask, and I can always say no. But if you ask for good things, I probably won't. That's how friends work."

"Even when it's tough?" Harmony vanished, next to Comforting without passing the space between. "Even when it's dangerous? Don't take my word for it. My word is not enough, clearly. Ask the former bearers. They each carry marks and memories of the tasks I put before them, some easy, and some not. See if they speak of me in all positive tones."

The visit was over. Comforting next remembered waking up in Fluttershy's hooves. The sun was heavy in the sky. How long had she been asleep?! "Woah!"

"You were tired." Fluttershy nuzzled the back of her ward's head. "I didn't want to wake you, so I let you sleep until you came around on your own."

"T-thanks." Comforting slid up to her own haunches, peering just a bit off of the sun. How had so many hours slipped by?! "I... must have been more tired than I thought..." She thought she got plenty of sleep! It was hard to argue with the proof right in front of her.  "Oh!" She rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "Is it time for that surprise?"

"You did an excellent job of not doing anything." Fluttershy helped Comforting sit up with careful adjustments with her hooves over the smaller body. "We both needed the day off. Now... I did promise." She reached with a wing into her pocket and drew out a scroll. "This is for you. I got Twilight's permission to give it to you."

Comforting's eyes widened as her magic took hold of it, drawing it closer. Could it be?! She hoped it was... But a question lingered. "Mom... Are you happy, or sad, or even angry about the force that gives you cutie quests? Not in relation to anyone else, just you."

Fluttershy was watching the scroll. "That's a curious question... I thought you'd be tearing into that scroll at this point, if we're being honest."

"Honest is good." Comforting hugged the scroll close. "Please?"

"Scared." Fluttershy sat back. "Scared... but proud? Every time it calls on me, I am frightened that I won't be able to do it... but I'm so very... I'm happy when it's all over, and I managed to make things right." She cracked an unsure smile. "It's as if it sees a strength in me that even I don't see. I'm not entirely sure how to deal with that... Um... Since you brought it up... How do you feel?"

"You didn't invite me?" Discord had arrived without fanfare, stepping between here and there without issue. "How rude. This looks like fun."

Fluttershy giggled at her chaotic friend. "This was a day of relaxation, Discord. You're a friend, but relaxing is not your specialty."

Discord crossed his arms with a huff. "I can be an expert relaxer! Give me a chance, next time, Fluttershy." He ruffled the top of Comforting's head despite her sour look. "Is it her? I can get along with foals just fine."