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// 76 - I See 
// Story: New Endings, Old Starts 
// by David Silver 
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"So... what do you see?" Comforting was watching Harmony with growing curiosity and a little concern.

"I see a scary friend." Harmony looked around slowly. "But still a friend. In one eye, I see here and now, in the other, fractured futures, maybes. But I could see no future before, so this... this is an improvement. You have thrown chaotic glimpses. An improvement." She reached up and took the glasses between her hooves. "Do not give these to a pony. You will upset them. It is possible that you may damage them. You are a kind chaos, you said so yourself. This would be an attack."

"N-no!" Comforting shrank back at the idea. "Driving my friends crazy isn't the idea, promise."

"But you told me." Screwball frowned at the paragon of order. "You told me some maybe futures. Why weren't you worried I'd get hurt?" Her speech was a little slower, making sure she got the right words out.

Harmony folded the glasses and tucked them away. "You are a tough little filly. You are also a chaotic filly. The rules are different because you already see what others do not."

Comforting zipped over to Screwball's side to press against them. "You're awesome, Harmony just said so."

"Yay!" Her question was blasted away with joy. "Oh. Oh! Oh!" She started and twitched faintly, desperately hunting for the words as if they were marbles she had just dropped and scattered over the area. "Is... That reason the? That the reason..." She curled a hoof at her face and her swirling eyes. "This?!" She was too excited to wait, and the words fell over themselves.

Harmony was holding Screwball by the cheeks, not bothering to take the steps between to actually take hold, they just were, staring deep into Screwball's swirled eyes. "Ah. Yes. Your vision is already fragmented and wild. I doubt any glimpse could damage you." More than she already was, Harmony implied without saying it. "I'm sorry."

Screwball wriggled back away from the holding hooves. "Why are you sorry? Discord did this." She twirled like a top on a whim. "And it's me now! Me, me, Screwball!" She dissolved entirely into babbles, dropping what few speech marbles she had left to her.

"Slow down," gently counseled Comforting, remaining close to her sister. "We'll still be here, promise." She looked to Harmony with a smile. "Thanks for the help. Oh, um." She pointed up at her big yak horn. "Yona said this was for breaking things."

Harmony considered the horn, or the area in that direction. "Yaks are like that. They revere the past, but are equally swift to damage it, especially if they do not think it is 'their' past. They will dance carefully around a vase, if it has their history on it. Greedy. They are learning. This is why Yona is so important."

Comforting set her hands on her hips. "Well, I don't want to break things." Visions of the poor tree she smashed came to her with a flinch. "Sorry," she whispered, as if the dead tree could hear her. Maybe it could? She couldn't for sure deny the possibility.

Harmony sighed gently. "Scary friend, I should not advise chaos... But... In the future, when you damage something, you do have the power to undo the damage. Your powers are frightening, but present." She raised her hooves and slowly clicked them together, side by side, not hoof to hoof. "Next time, put it back together."

Comforting's eyes widened slowly, swirling with new colors. "Oh!" She clapped her hands together in one firm strike. "I could... Now I feel stupid... Sorry! I'll put any future trees back together if I accidentally knock one over."

Screwball grabbed Comforting firmly, gibbering and breathing hard, but she was slowing, bit by bit.

Comforting patted her sister gently. "Today's been really exciting, for all of us. Harmony, I hope we're back to being friends, for real." She leaned in with a big smile. "I don't even dream anymore, that sucks. So visit! If you have time, come say hi. I miss our talks."

"Foolish chaos friend, you invite harmony to your side?" Harmony seemed pleased more than aghast. "You know, my presence weakens you. This may be why your sister is losing control of herself. I can't control that." She pointed to the tree, her real self. "It is what I am."

Comforting smooched Screwball on the nose, but pushed her back. "One moment." She held up one finger, nodded, and zipped off. She showed Harmony, the tree, what she thought with a big hug on that barky harmony avatar. When she got close, she couldn't fly, gravity refusing to concede to her, but she could walk, and she did to close the rest of the distance and embrace her friend. "You're pretty, you know that?" She could see the flicks of jewels and gems, glittering in the cave. "Delicate and shiny. Love it."

Harmony watched Comforting and her true self. "You are just saying that. I do not have what a mammal would call 'pretty'."

Comforting waved that away. "Let's start with the big thing. I'm not all mammal anymore." She rubbed her dragon hand with an avian one. "We got dragon and hippogriff, and griffon classic, and even some insect in there. Besides... It's not like I'm asking you out on a date." She paused, blinking. "Do you do dates? We can go on a date if you want. What do you do for fun?"

Harmony suddenly burst into laughter. It was Twilight's laughter, borrowing her image and form. "Chaotic friend... You are a treat. You would date a tree? You surely can't date me as I am now." She curled a hoof to point at her Twilight-self. "The questions would be legion, seeing a teacher dating their student."

"Ooo!" Screwball clasped her hooves at the two of them. "Can I come?"

Comforting smiled at her sister. "Feel better now?"

"A little, sorry... I was... really excited..." She colored, but not red, instead a plaid arrangement over her cheeks. "Sorry..."

Comforting zipped in to nose-touch with Screwball. "I'm so proud you calmed yourself down. Now, if this is a date date, it would just be us." She waved between herself and Harmony. "But it'd probably not be a date date. Harmony, are you looking for romance, or just some fun?"

Harmony inclined her head at Comforting. "I am... You accept this easily, as if either answer would be alright. I would still need another form. I am attuned to those who have served me well." Twilight was gone, Rarity in her place. "Darling, any of the element bearers are possible. But they are all older than you, and your teacher, you see."

Comforting clapped suddenly. "Perfect. If you're mom, then us hanging out won't even seem odd, and if I hug my mom, that's just adorable and normal."

Harmony was Fluttershy, wings fidgeting gently. "There are kisses two ponies in love give. There are kisses a mother gives to her daughter. They are not the same kiss."

Screwball smooched at the air with loud noises, giggling joyfully at the imagined scene.

Comforting returned from the tree, her buoyancy returning to her on the way. "You're the one getting ahead of yourself now. Let's just have fun. If we get to smooches, we'll figure that out. I'm dating you, not mom." She laughed at that. "Dating your mom isn't right, even adopted. But just a fun playdate? That's something you can do with family."

Screwball tried to land, paddling at the ground with futility. "If it's a playdate, I wanna!"

Harmony considered a moment before she brought a hoof down in a slow smooth motion, dragging Screwball with it as if she were manipulating an asset on the animation.

Screwball squealed with a fresh pain, causing Harmony to release her quickly. "Don't do that! Whatever that was..." She sniffled, wiping away a few little gumdrops. "That hurt..."

Comforting folded her arms. "Neither chaos nor order can put Screwball on the ground, at least without hurting her."

"Thanmfs fer..." She dropped her speech marbles, words trailing off into little babbles and sniffs.

"She says thanks for trying," translated Comforting. "But this is a lot. Today's been a lot. Let's... plan for the future. It was nice meeting the real you."

Harmony inclined her head. "You already met the 'real' me. One day... I saw it, before now... That me will be gone. The other me will remain. I hope you are not too attracted to my wood. It will go away eventually."

"Now we're getting kinda existential." She perked a brow at Harmony. "Which is really wierd, with us both being, you know... immortal, I think?"

"Many of those you love are not. Neither is that tree." Harmony nodded at the studded tree. "It will die. I will not. Death will come to visit you again, not to take your hand, but to pick up things around you... Will that make you mad? Will you lose your kindness?"

Comforting grabbed her overwhelmed sister close. "I hope not. At least I'll still have at least one friend." Comforting flashed a bright smile at Harmony and zipped away. The pressure of order was something she had forgotten, at least until it faded away with her zipping out of the cave. She half-carried Screwball away, over the treetops. "Feeling better?"

Screwball sniffed gently. "Am I forever too?"

Comforting frowned, having no real answer for that. Screwball was still a pony, right? "It doesn't matter." She climbed over Screwball, holding her up from the top. "You're still my #1 sister."

"Yay!" All the worry, gone, just like that. "Thanks, for taking me... That was... scary, but... Still happy." Screwball gently swatted Comforting away to take up the flight on her own. "Race ya!" And even go faster, determinatively vrooming ahead, as if the sound effect helped her go faster. Maybe it did?

They raced good spiritedly out of the Everfree to get to the safety and love of home.





"You called me."

Comforting had just gone to bed, and there was Harmony, floating over her. "You gave me answers, and also questions." She was wearing the glasses Comforting had gifted her. "I thought these would fade, but they persist... That may be my fault." She set a hoof on the side of them. "I am a creature of order, and they are now part of me. To remain still is a specialty."

Comforting smiled brightly at that. "I'm really glad. Good! I can make things, and you can make them stick. That's great to know." She slipped out from under Harmony to float up next to her. "Good to see you."

"Good to see you," echoed not-Twilight. "I did not expect you to visit, but you did, and I should thank you as well. You pleased me." She inclined her head at Comforting. "I do not scare you."

"Did you ever?" Comforting lifted an ear-feather.

"Of course." Harmony flew in a little closer at Comforting. "I was very intimidating. I wasn't trying to be, but I am. You are the intimidating one now. You are not trying to be. But you are." She inclined her head. "But you are also young. Young and caring." She offered out her hooves. "A child may be dangerous, but I find it difficult to be scared the more I consider it."

She wasn't young! But she also was? But also... "It's complicated... like both of us." They  met and hugged firmly to one another. They had no further complaints about their shared complexity. "You know I'd never hurt you."

"On purpose." Harmony returned to the ground, where an orderly thing belonged. "But you would do your best to fix it, were a mistake to happen."

"And say sorry." Comforting came down to float just next to Harmony. "And mean it."

"And mean it..." Harmony considered quietly a moment. "That is a step Discord often forgets. It is easy to say."