Ocellus shook her head quickly. "Sure, though that would probably cause a magical feedback loop and destroy the whole school!"
A new voice joined them, sweet and thick. "Destroy the School of Friendship?! Oh, dear! Chancellor Neighsay was wrong about a lot of things, but I guess he was right about all of you!" There was Cozy Glow, casting an accusing hoof at them with a large portion of the student body with her to witness the event.
Cozy mashed her cheeks with her hooves, feigning shock. "After everything Twilight's done for you, why would you want to destroy her school?"
Gallus scowled at her. "We don't! You're the one using these artifacts to drain magic from Equestria!"
Cozy Glow pointed at herself with an O of disbelief on her face. "Me?! We all just saw you with your claws all over them!" She gasped sharply. "It all makes sense. These creatures want magic gone from Equestria because it's the only thing ponies have that they don't!"
Ocellus hummed, one brow raised mildly. "Technically, there's a magical component when Silverstream and I transform."
Yona shouted in defiance, "And Yona's friends' friendship is magic! Twilight said!"
Cozy Glow shook her head with faint tsks. "And you repay her by sending her to Tartarus on a wild goose chase so you could destroy everything she built! " She gasps as she points. "They've even trapped Starlight in that-that thing! We have to defend this school!"
The students charge with angry shouts. Sandbar advances with pleads for them to not listen to Cozy Glow, but to very limited effect.
Comforting sideglanced at the various artifacts. Touching them could explode everything, or fix things. But none of that mattered if her friends got trampled. She focused on Gallus, who had just gotten his tail trapped by a pegasus, trying to will him to be stronger, but her magic had long since faded.
Gallus was able to free himself, crashing into a crystal in the roof and bouncing right down into the orb that held Starlight, trapping them both. The others of their group gasped with alarm and charged to help, creating a chain event where each was drawn in trying to save the next. "No!" Comforting threw herself at Occelus, knocking Ocellus out of the way of the grasping hand that it seemed only she could see.
"We have to help them." Ocellus waved wildly at her friends. "Come on."
Comforting nodded in a shallow motion. "We do..." There had to be a smarter way, but she couldn't think of one in that moment. She was just a little filly, without magic. But she had friends in need of saving. "Follow me." There was one power she had. She could see the grasping hands. She darted in at the sphere, ducking and jumping around those with squeaks of alarm.
Ocellus did not need to copy her squeaks, but she did, as if that helped her copy the jinks and dodges in following Comforting. "Why are we doing this?" She couldn't see what they were dodging, making explaining why she was doing those odd motions quite difficult.
Comforting lunged forward, bouncing off one hand to arrive at the base of the sphere's magic column. "Ta da! Now we're..." She turned to see Ocellus in the grasp of several hands, being drawn into the sphere. "Here..." All her friends had gotten gobbled up, most of them trying to reach the other of her friends. "There has to be something..." She could hear the students and Cozy arguing about something, but they were too far away and the sphere over her was quite noisy on its own, so she ignored them for the time being.
"It is soon my time," spoke Harmony in her pricked ear. "You did not need to be here, but you are trying, and willing. I appreciate it."
Comforting could just sit back and wait? No. She had to help, somehow... She swatted at a reaching hand, ducking around it. She couldn't help if she was in that orb. Colors!
So many colors... The sphere was a bright mass of magic, but familiar shades crept over the room in a wave of friendly magic. Something was happening, though identifying it was beyond Comforting's abilities. The magic overcame the trapped creatures and casually lifted them free, glowing with so much power that even the other ponies could see, gasping in awe at the event.
It was Harmony's turn. Comforting could do little but watch as the students landed and quickly made for the artifacts, yanking them away at the same time. The other students vacated with cries of terror. That could destroy the school, with them in it! With a great contracting, the magic hit a critical point and did explode, releasing the magic in a harmlessly expanding sphere.
Comforting began to giggle wildly. The world, it was colorful, so colorful! Her eyes danced, trying to follow the infinite motes of magic that swirled around her. One landed on her horn, which began to glow with her brownish magic. "Yay!" she called out, clapping happily.
Starlight hit the ground, but stormed right off to see to the proper apprehending of a certain trouble-making filly.
Gallus suddenly poked Comforting. "What were you doing? Props for trying to help, but, really, what were you doing?"
"I was avoiding the hands." The looks they gave her was confirmation enough. "That you really couldn't see. You did notice being pulled in, right?"
"Hard to miss that," squeaked out Ocellus. "But I didn't see anything, just felt it."
Sandbar mussed Comforting's mane. "Thanks for trying. In the end, we made it."
Even if Comforting hadn't really helped that much that day. A fact that prickled in her throat. Still... happy ending? "I'm glad you're alright, all of you." She had gotten another bit of confirmation. "You do know you work for Harmony, right?" Another series of clueless blinks. "The colors?"
Smolder shrugged. "You mean when we were all glowy? Kinda trippy, right?"
Yona sank to her belly with a dull thud, causing the area to vibrate from the impact. "Comfort serious. What mean?"
Comforting pointed at them all in a wave that ended back at herself. "We all work for Harmony. Um." Ah! "You know the Tree of Harmony, right?"
Silverstream bobbed her head quickly. "Yeah! It's all sparkly and awesome!"
"And alive, in every way you could count it. It's magic. Um..." How to explain... "Magic does funny things. It has a spirit, Harmony, that wants to help make the world a better place."
She wasn't facing the Young Six anymore. She was in a car, driving it. How did ponies drive cars? She swerved at the thought of it, but relaxing caused the vehicle to calm down. She was driving. This was a known fact. "What?"
"We should talk." There was someone in the car with her. A glance revealed who it was, Harmony had taken the form of a friend from so long ago, arms crossed over their chest. "This is why I usually only tell ponies a little bit."
A friend from untold years ago, in another world, in another life... Now they were staring ahead with those unfocused eyes. "Why do you look like that? I thought you just copied things from this world."
"I am." They waved at Comforting, drawing attention to the fact that they had fingers. They were a human, driving a car. That made more sense... "Things from this world."
"Wrong world and you know it." Comforting shifted lanes gently. "Did I make you mad?"
"Mad? Angry?" They went quiet, as if considering. "No. Concerned. Stop telling them things that won't help them. I can see what is likely ahead, and you are making it more difficult for them. They cannot be fully aware of my nature, not at this time. Maybe later... Maybe."
"You should have more faith in them." Comforting slowed with the flow of traffic. "They're smarter than you think, and capable."
"If I did not have faith in them," countered Harmony in those even tones. "I would not use them. Their future is bright. It is my job, if such a term fits, to help ensure that future arrives. You are making it more difficult. Friend, you called me that. It is a nice label. I like it, but you make my task more difficult. why would a friend do this?"
A witty barb came to mind, but Comforting fought that down. "Friends should be honest with each other, and they are my friends too."
"Even when it could hurt them?" Harmony in the form of the friend from long ago was in front of Comforting, even if there should have been a steering--oh. They weren't in a car anymore. They were just standing in a formless void. "Honesty is a virtue worth celebrating, but to heed it blindly can be just as damaging as ignoring it."
Comforting scrambled back up to the hooves she had again. "All the virtues are like that."
"Truth. Any virtue can become a problem in excess. Hm, your mother needs a lesson in taking her kindness too far."
Comforting paled at the end of her snout. "You leave her alone!"
"Why? It will help her grow. She will be thankful when it is over." Harmony, taking the form of Twilight, leaned in far over Comforting. "Do not interfere."
Comforting scrambled back, only to take a slow breath, even if she couldn't feel air rushing past her teeth or along her throat. "You can see things from a perspective I can't even... It's past me."
"Does that scare you?"
"You want me to say yes." Comforting took a step forward. "It would be a lot easier if I was just another scared pony. Then you could hide from me."
"You are scared."
"A little." Comforting smiled gently. "But we're still friends. It just means I have to learn. You're not a god."
"I thought I was, from your perspective." Harmony raised Twilight's hoof to her chin. "What would you call me?"
"A parent." Comforting circled around Harmony slowly. "A parent that wants the best for their children, even if that sometimes means scaring them or making them work. They'll be stronger in the end. Maybe they'll thank you, or maybe not. A good parent will do it anyway, which is what you are."
Harmony's ears swiveled to keep Comforting in focus, but she looked straight ahead, her favorite place to look. "Fluttershy does not do what would hurt you."
"True... But she's soft. You know that already. You want to fix it, you just said that." Harmony flumped to her haunches. "And I was trying to stop you... I don't like the idea of mom being hurt... but if it will help her in the end... maybe I'm being the bad parent."
Harmony was facing Comforting. She never turned, she just was facing the small filly. "She is your parent, not the other way."
"That doesn't mean I don't feel those things." Comforting waved it away. "I want her to grow and be better too... Even if she's in charge of growing me."
"Then you will not interfere?"
Comforting sat back, looking up at her orderly friend. "I will have some faith... You haven't, and I bet you won't, ever do something you could see would just hurt anyone, at least in the long-term..."
"I appreciate your cooperation." Harmony bumped noses with Comforting, and that ceased. Comforting was instead looking at the Young Six, who seemed perplexed.
Gallus was snapping his fingers in front of Comforting's face. "Maybe all this excitement was too much?"
Sandbar sat up. "I'll take her home, like I said I would in the first place. As brave as she is, she's still a little foal."
Smolder nodded firmly. "A brave foal, but still a foal. Oh, she's back, I think?"
Comforting blinked softly. "What happened? You all alright?" Then she was hugged. Yona was crushing her, with love.
"We thought you hurt! Glad wrong." Yona set the little filly down on Sandbar's back. "Go home. Rest."