New Endings, Old Starts

by David Silver

106 - The Hunt, Part 3

Gallus ducked under a crushing snap of those terrible jaws. "Watch out!"

"I am." Cracked grabbed the cragadile by the snout, forcing it closed, but it still had many dangerous claws, already moving into position.

---

Harmony inclined her head faintly. "This may be much, even for them. May I help?"

"You're so predictable." Discord snapped with meaning. "I got this. You know, this is kind of fun. Why don't we hang out like this more often?"

"It's the first time it came up?" Comforting shrugged helplessly. "But it's working out, I think."

---

Smolder grunted in annoyance. "Where are they?!" She clearly won the speed part of things. There she was, with her big bird prize, and nocreature around to show it to. She looked up to the sky and the lazy sun there, slowly dipping towards the surface. "The day will be over..."

Did they give up? Winning on a technical victory wouldn't be any fun and involve more waiting... "Fine." She tucked her catch safely under some rocks to wait for her. "You'd better be dying or something!" She took flight to search for them. She remembered which way Gallus had gone and took off after him.

"Part of me is hoping this went badly." No, she didn't actually want Gallus hurt. But saying it let some steam off. "And where even is Cracked?" The big predator had wandered off in a random direction. She had no hope of finding them... Her search might have been fruitless even trying to find Gallus in that vast swamp.

If he wasn't making so much noise and fuss.

"What?" Gallus was on a huge cragadile's back, bashing the back of its head with mixed results. It pinned Cracked, but her hindclaws were tearing at the great beast's belly in an exchange that had no winners. It was a battle for survival, and she wasn't part of it. "The hey! When did this become a team match?" She swooped down on them with a snarl. "What gives?!"

"Glad you're here." A sudden swipe of a thick tail cut Gallus' words off, sending him flying to land with a splash in the murky water. "I mighta picked ambitiously, you know?"

"You don't say?!" Smolder drew her breath in with a great inwards heave. "Stop messing with my friends!" she roared out with her flames, baking the back of that rocky menace. That Cracked's raking claws held it up was the main reason it could be exposed to the fires instead of being protected by the water. The creature hissed in pain, outnumbered, but not clearly outclassed.

The cragadile wrenched its snout free, opening it just long enough to get it closed on one of Cracked's legs, drawing a shout of fury and pain from her.

---

Harmony smiled gently. "She called them friends. That is the first time she referred to Cracked this way."

Comforting rubbed at her chin. "Um, I'm glad for that, but that's what you're focusing on?"

Discord snorted out a laugh, a new kernel vanishing into his mouth. "That's just how she does things. Still, they should be able to handle this now."

"I hope so." Comforting leaned left and right for better angles. The oddest part being that it did seem to help, her viewing position changing what she saw. "I don't want them getting hurt, especially now that they've gotten this far..."

Discord shrugged at that. "We've given them all the help we can. It's up to them to bring it home, literally in this case." He cocked a brow. "Think they'd share a little of that when they're back? I haven't tried a cragadile in so long."

Harmony quirked an ear at Discord. "You may be chaotic, but you are more pony than carnivore. Does that interest you?"

"Please." Discord waved over himself. "What am I again? Draconeques. Dragonpony. Not exactly that dragon--" He hiked a thumb at the battling Smolder. "We dragons come in a lot of shapes and sizes, you know. Either way, I'm not turning down a nicely prepared steak if it's offered."

He swatted Comforting on the shoulder. "You already take after me there. I know you have a meat loving side."

"Yeah..." But she was a human, um, first. "Not sure how much I'd put that to any 'dragon' thing, dad."

"Oh, pshaw." He waved it off. "We're chaos spirits, we can put it on whatever we want to. Now, did they win yet?"

All three of them returned their attention to the floating image.

---

Cracked heaved for slow and deep breaths. "That... was a bad hunt."

Gallus cocked a brow. "We won." He kicked the defeated cragadile. "How can that be bad?"

Smolder landed atop it. "Yeah! Best hunt, more like it."

Cracked raised a hoof in quiet for a long moment. "We did win. But we paid a price for it." She swept that same hoof over her many cuts and bruises. "We were hurt, and that was very tiring. In the future, consider your target. If it looks too tough to take down quickly, pick another. Only when there are no others does one consider something this powerful."

Gallus winced at the injuries Cracked had endured, not that he didn't have some to show himself. "Right... So, if it was so bad, why'd you join?"

Cracked booped the griffon on his beak. "Because I didn't want to watch you get torn apart. Now, we have all completed this hunt. May I suggest we share in the victory and call the contest concluded?"

Smolder's smirk was legendary. "Not so fast. I caught mine and brought it back first, and it's great! Come and see." She waved for the others to follow as she took off into the air. "This way!"

Gallus shrugged at the retreating dragon. "If we don't go see it, she won't leave us alone about it, and she'll claim she won, anyway."

"I will meet you there." Cracked started in a different direction. "I have to get my catch."

Gallus gawped silently. "Wait... You did get something?! Huh..." But he went to claim... "Uh... Cracked? This is kinda heavy..."

Cracked chuckled softly, turning about to go grab the significant body of the cragadile and slip it over her shoulder. "Fine. Another reason not to hunt something so large you can't carry it. It's hard to make leftovers, hm?"

"Yeah yeah." But Gallus went with her, the two emerging from the wetlands to more firm ground. "Where'd you put yours? I'll carry that."

"If you want." Cracked led the way to where she had tucked the hare for safe keeping. "That."

Gallus picked up the rabbit-creature. "Huh." He turned it left and right, weighing it along the way. "Isn't this... small for you?"

Cracked shrugged. "It would have served a fine lunch, and I used far less energy to get it than I'd get from it. A quick and easy kill. I won with that."

"Huh... Huh." Gallus did carry it, as he had promised. "You really think through the whole survival angle, don't you?"

"Better than not surviving," argued Cracked back with a little smile. "I'll take that any day of the week."

"Yeah, but the contest--"

"--was misguided." Cracked directed a claw at the hare. "I lost the contest, and admit my failure as a trophy hunter." She leaned in, breath washing hot over Gallus. "But I survived."

Gallus snickered, which grew into an outright laugh. "Wow, alright, sure. Anyway, the real winner was teamwork." He reached up to pat the enormous body of their prey. "Together, we can take down anything!"

"Together." Cracked didn't extend that conversation, quietly plodding along.

---

Discord golf-clapped slowly. "Well, that looks like a happy ending from this angle."

"Not quite." Comforting leaned in towards the vision. "They have to meet up with Smolder."

Harmony hummed gently. "She seemed to agree that things had ended well, but she would like victory. Will that sour it?"

"It could... I hope not."

Discord slid in front of Comforting. "You do know what this means, don't you?"

Comforting blinked at that. "What's 'this'?"

"This is you acting like us." Discord pointed at Harmony and himself. "Congratulations, you're living the spirit life." He was not alone, his applause echoed by Harmony in the two finding delight in Comforting's progress. "There is a downside, I should warn."

"My most powerful agent is aware of this. She flew high enough to touch it, and once touched, one cannot escape it." Harmony shook her head with finality. "I apologize, Friend Comforting. I should have warned you."

Discord waved that off. "She's a grown mare, she gets to make her own decisions."

"You're not saying what I did." Comforting poked at herself, and she felt just as solid as before. "What happened?!"

Harmony reached up, brushing the image without touching it and summoning a picture of Celestia. "She can see as we see, though recent events have obscured it somewhat. She is a seer. She is a watcher. Like us. She is no spirit, but she is a watcher, and that changes a creature. She will never again be the fulcrum on which the world turns. No... No..."

"No," agreed Discord. "She is a fulcrum, but she never gets to be the one pressing down on the bar. Don't get your terminology all mixed up. Celestia is a bump, and sometimes Twilight has to hop down on one side or the other to get things right. In the future, if she gets her way, she'll become a bump, and it'll be up to the creatures around her to get things moving. Essential, but powerless on her own. Such is the way of things."

"Such is the way of things." She directed a hoof at Discord. "He has power, and no control. Why does he not fix all their problems?"

"Because that'd be boring?" ventured Discord with a shrug.

"That, and he cannot. But he doesn't want to, so little is lost. You cannot, but you want to... something is lost. You will have to help your friends as you did today."

Discord snorted at that. "I've helped Twilight and her friends before!"

"Rarely. You know your powers could help more often and more easily than you tend to do."

"I like watching them struggle a bit." Discord shrugged at that. "Puts hair on their chest." As if any of the ponies lacked sufficient hair.

Comforting frowned at the whole idea. "But I'm still a student with them! If a problem comes up... why wouldn't I try to help?"

Harmony inclined her head. "Chaotic Harmony, you act in ways not like I, or like Discord. Perhaps my worries are for nothing."

"You are a bit of a worrywart." He pointed at the image. "Look, they're back."

---

Cracked set down the heavy body with a great thump on the ground. "Here is our catch. We will not be hungry for some time."

Gallus tossed the hare on top. "Here's Cracked's catch."

"Really?" Smolder peered at the little rabbit. "Really? Whatever. Here's mine!" Gallus darted off, rushing back with a bird big enough to make her move slowly. She dumped the thing ahead, like an emu or an ostrich, flightless but heavy. "Ta da! And I got it back here before any of you."

Cracked inclined her head left, then right. "I concede. This is a fine trophy kill. Did you get hurt?" Smolder shook her head. "Was it hard?"

"For me? Nah." Smolder shrugged cockily. "In and out, pow, lunch is served."

"Then I say you are the winner." Cracked nodded. "But we will all enjoy victory... Mmm... Ponies have such good recipes of late. Do either of you know how to prepare this?" She directed a hoof at the cragadile.

Smolder looked so proud. "I'm not just a trophy hunting champ, I know how to cook something up fierce."

Gallus tapped at the Cragadile. "You get this. I'll cook that." He pointed to the bird. "We griffons know a thing or two about birds."

"Figures." Smolder shrugged. "Sounds like a plan. Let's celebrate... my victory."

"You are the worst." Gallus slapped at her, but they were both smiling.

Cracked nodded at the two smaller predators. "You have much to learn, and I look forward to helping that along. There are ways to approach large beasts. How you start sets the tempo of the battle."

Gallus' eyes widened. "Will you show me?"

"Gladly." And they went off, burdened with meat, but all delighted to tell, or hear, stories of how to hunt dangerous prey better in the future.

Author's Note:

End arc, but Comforting is given a warning, or ultimatum? You're a god! There are rules.

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Comments

[Emtu]

Harmony really doesn't seem big on using given names, huh.

[redmar]

I found a typo.

"If we don't go se it,

Should be see instead of se.

[David Silver]

11522639
Pesky spirit vision portals! So much static!

[uis]

Pinkie is also Chaotic Harmony. She's hammerspacing her happiness to other ponies.

Anyway, nice chapter with Harmy

[Amethyst Dragonfly]

"What?" Gallus was on a huge cragadile's back, bashing the back of its head with mixed results. It pinned cracked, but her hindclaws were tearing at the great beast's belly in an exchange that had no winners. It was a battle for survival, and she wasn't part of it. "The hey! When did this become a team match?" She swooped down on them with a snarl. "What gives?!"

Should be
pinned Cracked, but

[Amethyst Dragonfly]

We all know that Comforting is still going to be trying to help others. The "only watching" role would make her sad.

The contest is done, and the winner is friendship.

[Twinkie Sprinkle]

Even if Smolder obviously does care about the other two, "You'd better be dying or something" got a chuckle out of me.

It was fun to see Smolder using her breath weapon and it being apparently quite effective against the cragadile. I saw a Godzilla movie last week, so I was extra happy to see something like that.

I was admittedly worried for Cracked when the cragadile started biting her, but I'm glad she was okay in the end, and her booping Gallus was quite cute.

It was an interesting bit of conversation for Discord to remind us that Draconequus means "Dragonpony," in order to explain his inclination towards meat, and also to point out that his more serpentine structure makes him a bit different from more Tolkien-esque dragons like Smolder and Spike.

With that in mind, Comforting had time to ponder whether a taste for meat came from her dragon side or her previous human life...though it might have something to do with the griffon part of her, too.

Comforting's dilemma about how much she will be able to help others as a spirit is very relatable, and I really hope she can figure out something she can feel at peace with.

Oddly, or perhaps not so oddly, the discussion on how much a spirit is able or willing to do for others kinda takes me back to Season One when Celestia still seemed like the most powerful being in the show, but everyone questioned why she was almost always in the background.

This arc is over, and Smolder has been declared the winner.

With that in mind, and with Comforting in a big transitional period in her life(In more ways than one, probably), I thought I'd mention an idea for a possible arc. I'm not sure if it makes sense, or if all involved with the story would be on board, but, with Comforting as powerful as she is, and as conflicted as she currently is, I was thinking about the possibility of Comforting Chaos/Chaotic Harmony traveling through the multiverse at some point in the future, and meeting her Alicorn Self to see what "might have been."

Maybe it would be a "New Endings, Old Starts" arc where Comforting gets a bit more mental closure on that possibility.

Comforting would probably have to assure her other self she wasn't dangerous, if that happened.

Maybe waving her arms defensively and saying something like "Not here to cause problems, promise! I just wanted to visit a different me! Not better, not worse, different!"

Maybe it would be the "Comforting Shade Chaos Spirit Arc," or something like that, since Comforting would be figuring out what being a spirit means to her, in part by seeing what would happen if she *hadn't* become a spirit.

But again, that's all just suggestions. It would depend on what you and the backer/backers think.

Regardless of what does come next, I'm looking forward to it.

[midnight arrow]

both part two and three are great chapters

[David Silver]

11523104
I feel like that arc idea would need to be initiated by not-Comforting. She's already written off the other Comforting as not-her.

But then you have Harmony...

If anycreature were considering it, she'd be high on that list, no?

Smolder's breath only had a chance because the big beast was being held up out of the water, so she wouldn't have to waste so much energy evaporating a lot of water that wasn't involved in the fight. Teamwork!

[David Silver]

11523104
I forgot a thing! If you have the means, do feel free to join ye patreon. Support is welcome to keep the words flowing.

[Amethyst Dragonfly]

11523104
I think that an arc where Comforting Shade Chaos Spirit path actually met Comforting Shade Alicorn Princess path would be very interesting.

[Twinkie Sprinkle]

11523438

That's a clever point about Smolder's breath. Great teamwork moment indeed, and a great physics moment, too.

I actually think the idea of Harmony arranging a meeting between the two Comfortings to be a brilliant one. They have both the motive and the power to set up such a trip, and it would even be thematically a bit similar to Discord sending his daughter on vacation in the human world.

[Twinkie Sprinkle]

11523439

Oh thank you, that's a great point! While I unfortunately don't have the means at the moment, I really love how your Patreon is set up, and I'd love to support your work eventually. With the way things are going, that time might even come as soon as a few months from now.

Very best of luck with all your work in the meantime.

[WanderingPony]

They left predators, but returned as a pack. And that's good.

[Poparakelis]

Conforting is turning into something... More, but with her Dad and Harmony I don't think this will be a bad thing.

[Luckyfanisaac]

End arc, but Comforting is given a warning, or ultimatum? You're a god! There are rules.