Comforting darted from the house, holding her lunch in one hand. Soaring just above the ground, she could zip and dart about, but didn't raise any higher than she'd get if she was walking. She didn't spot Diamond or Silver having breakfast. They weren't always out. But there was Sandbar, enjoying the morning by the river in front of the school.
"Hey!" she called, coming in for a landing next to him. "Good morning!"
"Good morning yourself." He was smiling despite his slightly sardonic tone. "You sound really cheerful."
"I learned some new tricks." She wriggled all of her fingers at him. "And I won't hide that I really kinda want to show off."
Sandbar turned fully towards her. "Well, don't let me stop you. Wow me."
"Brave!" She considered a moment and stuffed a hand into her pocket. "Ever... hold a gameboy before?" She drew out the small entertainment device and offered it towards Sandbar.
Sandbar blinked softly. "What is that?" He leaned in at the strange rectangular... thing... "Never saw it before..."
Right, gameboys were not a pony thing. "Do you know what a videogame is?"
"Of course." Sandbar pointed off. "We have an arcade with some games in it, real popular with some ponies, mostly foals."
Comforting realized she was about to mess with things. She casually tucked the gameboy away and instead pulled out a gumball. "Ta da."
"That I recognize." Sandbar accepted the gumball and popped it in his mouth. "Mmm, my favorite flavor. How'd you know?"
She had just imagined pulling out his favorite flavor. That it worked was a nice surprise. "Anything for a friend."
He ruffled the top of her head. "Don't get carried away with that or somecreature will take advantage of tricks like that."
"Hey." Smolder was walking up towards the school. "What's the haps?"
Sandbar waved at Comforting. "She got a chaos trick or two. She can fly." He tapped his hooves with each thing. "And she can pull stuff out of nowhere."
Smolder wriggled her nose. "Get out. Alright, if you're so good at that, how about a light red ruby?"
Comforting put her mind to work imagining such a ruby, light red in color. She clapped her hands and pulled them apart, revealing a small ruby between them. "Like this?"
Smolder howled with laughter even as she snatched up the ruby. "One last test..." She popped it in her mouth much as Sandbar had just done, though the ruby involved a lot more crunching than the gum did. "Mmm, not bad. Not great, but not bad. You're still getting used to it."
Comforting didn't have a lot of knowledge about rubys and gems... "Sorry..."
"Sorry nothing." Smolder swatted at her shoulder. "That was awesome. Now what's this about flying? You got your wings figured out?"
"Not exactly." Comforting lifted into the air. Just because they were mentioned, her wings gave a little flap, but they were clearly not what was holding her up. "Ta da!"
Smolder lifted on her own wings. "Welcome to the club."
Sandbar stuck out his tongue. "Showoffs." Alas, he was quite planted on the ground. "So, uh, now that you're... this... do you still need school?"
Smolder shrugged dramatically. "Yeah... if I had that, skipping out on school would be awful tempting."
"No way!" Comforting landed on her feet. "There's still a lot to learn, and besides, if I did that, I wouldn't be with you."
"Aw."
"Aw," echoed Smolder, throwing an arm over Comforting, only for a moment. "You're nicer than I am." She fired a finger gun at Comforting. "See you in class, alright?"
Comforting and Sandbar waved as Smolder headed inside. Sandbar turned an ear towards the chaotic filly. "That has to be kinda odd... You could do almost anything, once you learn how."
Comforting considered that a quiet moment. "Mm... Well..." She pointed off towards home. "Discord is the chaos spirit of the last generation, helping Twilight and her friends and big friends with Fluttershy. Maybe I'm the new model."
Sandbar inclined his head. "But we haven't saved the world."
"Yet." Comforting raised a finger. "Yet... And I'd be so proud to be a helping hand when that happens."
Sandbar snorted softly as he rose to his hooves. "Well, if we're getting a chaos spirit friend, I can't think of a much nicer one, so I'll take that. See you in class, alright?"
He headed inside, much as Smolder had, minus the flying. "'The Last Generation'?" Discord was casually standing next to her. "I prefer the next one, since you're asking."
Comforting jumped away from her suddenly appearing chaos father. "We need to put a bell on you."
He shook the bell he hadn't been wearing a moment before. "Meow." He pawed at the air, snorted, and put his hands on his hips. "Back on topic. You almost messed up, but you recovered nicely, kudos on that. We can pull things out that don't exist here, but they tend to be shortlived, and can give poor ponies a headache considering them. For the sake of others, keep that to a minimum."
"Do not use chaos to try to kickstart the local technology level... got it." She was blushing, caught. "Sorry."
"Don't say sorry to me. We get too much technology and creatures will get upset. Really, ponies with phones? Can you even imagine? There'll be rioting in the streets." Discord threw his hands wide at the dramatic scenario. "We don't want that, now do we?"
"Since you're here." Comforting floated up to be at eye level with him. "I wanted to talk to you, about Harmony."
He made a face at that. "What about her?"
"She could really use a friend, someone who can see the big picture like she does." Comforting clasped her hands together. "You're already coworkers. Why not be friendly?"
Discord rolled his eyes. "She already has 'friends'. Dozens on hundreds of little ponies she puppets as she sees fit. Ghastly, if you ask me." He pointed to Comforting's lack of a cutie mark. "Which I rescued you from. You're welcome."
Comforting folded her arms. "You know me better than that."
"I do," he admitted with a miserable tone. "Really... Look, kiddo, you need to get going to school." He hiked a thumb at the school of friendship. "Maybe I'll talk to her, maybe."
Comforting gave her chaos daddy a parting hug and zipped into class.
During lunch, a large form loomed over her. "Is time." There was Yona, looking determined and happy. "Come." She led Comforting out of the building and pointed to a lonely tree. "See? Show." She charged the tree, head down and angled to bring one horn against it with a great slamming bash when she hit it.
Comforting blinked softly. "You... want me to do that?"
"Yes." She raised a cloven hoof at Comforting's big yak horn. "Use it."
Running headfirst into a tree didn't sound fun... But she also didn't want to let Yona down. Making the big lovable yak sad? Who would do that?! "I'll try..." She reached behind herself and pulled out a helmet that fit her head perfectly, slipping over changeling and yak horn and providing some cushioning. "There..." She didn't want to end up in the hospital again!
Yona shrugged at the helmet. "If make feel better. Now go!"
"I am really hoping..." Her yak horn would be strong, like Yona, right? She could but hope. She took off at a jog towards the tree, arms pumping as she lowered her head into position to have her big yak horn first. She shouted a war cry, as if that might help, and smashed into the tree.
And bounced.
She ended up on her rump, dizzy, but intact. "Ow...?"
Yona nodded at Comforting. "Not bad, but not there. Again!"
Comforting covered her head with her hands. "That hurt!"
"Only hurt because new." Yona leaned in. "Practice, not hurt. Then have fun. Lots of fun."
Comforting lowered her hands with a frustrated grunt, eyeing her large and violent friend. "Lots of fun?"
"Yak fun, best fun." Simple logic, from her point of view. "Again."
Comforting flew away and landed lightly. "Alright... one more time!"
"One more time," eagerly echoed Yona. "Go!"
Comforting roared as she charged, earth pony hoof and yak hoof pounding the ground as she gained speed, until it was all gone. Smashing against the tree, the world spun, but she heard something breaking. The tree fell over away from her, yielding to the great blow she had delivered. "Yay?"
"Yes!" proclaimed Yona far more jubilantly. "Smash good. See, yak horn is ready. How feel?"
"Not... as bad." She rubbed at her helmeted head gently. "That... Hm." It was hard to put a finger on... but smashing the tree did have a tinge of good feeling. But also she smashed a tree. Poor tree. What had it done to deserve this? Conflicted emotions warred within her. "I think I would rather smash things that are not alive."
Yona shrugged softly. "Plenty other things to smash. Big, small, hard, easy break." She wobbled her hooves in an attempt to pantomime the things she was thinking of.
"Like?" Comforting pulled out an ornate vase and set it on the ground.
"Ooo!" Yona circled around the vase like a predator considering its prey. "Yes, like that. Belong to you, you smash." She backed a step and waved at it with a bow, submitting the right to smash to Comforting.
Breaking the vase had a lot less moral worries. She had made it herself, so no crafter was being put out by it. It wasn't alive. It was a perfect smashing target. Comforting skipped away from it, tail lashing near the tip. "Alright. I think I can handle this one."
"Yona believe! Do it!" She began clapping eagerly with her eyes set on Comforting.
Comforting didn't run, opting instead to fly right at the vase. She slammed into it, and it yielded long before Comforting did, erupting into ceramic bits and pieces that exploded over the area with the sound of smashing and tinkling bits of falling vase bits. "Woo!"
"Yes." Yona nodded with appreciation. "That look fun."
"It was." Comforting picked herself up and started dusting off the bits of ceramic. "We should get back to class though. Lunch isn't forever."
Yona walked back inside with Comforting. "Get better. Yona proud."
"I want to show you." Comforting sat up in her seat, beaming at Twilight. "I can do things now."
"You've regained your magic? Lovely." Twilight smiled at the idea. "I thought it'd take longer."
"Oh, not that," admitted Comforting, shrinking a little. "Chaos magic." She lifted free of the desk, hovering over Twilight. "This, for one."
Twilight considered the floating Comforting. "Starlight would understand that mode of flight..."
"She's a chaos spirit too?"
Twilight's eyes widened. "Goodness, no. Unicorn, but she has mastered flying with magic. It looks very similar to that." She waved a hoof at Comforting's suspended form. "But you were saying there was more?"
"Yes." Comforting came down to sit on the edge of her desk instead. "I can make things, and it's a lot of fun."
"Make things?"
Comforting considered, but opted with asking. "Name a nice snack."
"Oh... A nice carton of hay fries would be nice." Twilight licked her lips, considering the fast food. "Maybe..." She trailed off, with the carton of hay fries being waved right under her nose by a grinning Comforting. "Oh! Hm, how interesting." And by interesting, she meant delicious. Her magic plucked one little horseshoe of a fry and chewed on it with a happy sigh. "Well made... Did you cook this?"
"Made it, yes. Cooked it?... That's stretching a bit." Comforting leaned back, hands behind her head. "Dreamed it up is closer to how that works. I can dream up things, and then they're there."
"Fascinating..." Twilight raised a hoof to her chin. "Would you be opposed to my measuring this phenomenon?"
Comforting imagined what that would be like. "Would it hurt?"