109 - The Path Not Taken
"I think you're telling the truth."
Chaos Comforting tilted her head. "Of course I am."
"You are a chaos creature," reminded Harmony Comforting. "Assuming that feels silly."
"I... Alright, point. I am more chaotic than you, but I'm still Comforting." She spread her arms. "I like helping people, not playing jokes that could hurt them."
Harmony Comforting smiled, her eyes darting to Chaos Comforting's lack of a mark. "You... You have my name and you look like me." She looked back at her own mark, hug displayed, but not quite what Chaos Comforting ever had. "Harmony told me that she directs things towards the best maybes." She considered her chaotic copy. "Does that... I'm sorry, not trying to be mean, but does that make you a not-best maybe?"
"Ow..." Chaos Comforting rest her hands on her hips. Unlike the other Comforting, she still had hands. "It was my choice, not hers, that led to both of us, I think? Actually..." She frowned, thinking of that pivotal moment. "Sorry to keep bringing it up, but when you got really hurt, did Harmony ask before she crowned you?"
"No?" Harmony Comforting looked confused at the idea. "Why would she? I was hurt, and she could help, so she did." She smiled radiantly. "I'm very grateful. Being a princess is fun anyway." She pulled a tiara free of herself and placed it on her head, completing the look. "I'm the princess of caring. You could call it a subsidary of kindness. I remind mom she's my inspiration all the time!"
Chaos Comforting applauded the show. "That's adorable! Speaking of that though, why did you move out?" She hiked a thumb at Fluttershy's cottage in the distance. "You still look like a foal to me."
Harmony Comforting pointed at her chaos twin. "You were a human, just like me, right?"
"Yep?"
"Then neither of us are foals, really," concluded Harmony Comforting. "After I got hurt like that... I decided to start taking things a little more seriously. It was time to act my age, no matter how big or small I was." She stuck out her tongue a little. "Before you ask, that doesn't mean I can't have fun. I have a lot of friends, and we have fun all the time. Not like adults can't have fun. So... I moved out. You didn't? You still live with Mo--Fluttershy?"
Chaos Comforting colored, called out like that! "Y-yeah... I have a sister and--"
"Sister?!" Harmony Comforting curled a hoof at herself. "I don't have a sister. Did you bring one from Earth?"
"No, adopted. A pony," explained Chaos Comforting. "I rescued her from chaos, and she still needs a lot of help, more than Mom could give without taking up her day, so I help with that."
Harmony Comforting sat back with a gentle smile. "Then you're not just freeloading. I'm so glad to hear that. What's she like, this sister?"
"Very nice." Both Comfortings nodded at that, as if they could have a not-nice Equestrian sister, please... "But confused. She's getting better. She's a pony that touched way too much chaos and got dazzled by it really bad. She wants to be a good pony though. We just started sending her to school." Chaos Comforting clapped her hands. "And she's making so many friends. It's adorable."
"What is her name? Maybe I know her. A different her? Like you and me." She pointed at her and Chaos Comforting.
"That would be neat... Alright, Screwball?"
Harmony Comforting shook her head. "I don't know any pony by that name." Her eyes widened. "I need to tell Harmony! Maybe she needs help!"
Chaos Comforting lifted into the air, ready to take off, but Harmony Comforting was not following. "I thought we were going to Harmony?"
Harmony Comforting blinked with confusion. "Silly. Where...? I see Harmony in my dreams."
Chaos Comforting came in for a landing. "You don't visit her... physical self?" Her griffon tail lashed with confusion. "You have wings. You could fly there." Chaos Comforting also had wings, but also didn't need them.
"No?" Harmony Comforting turned back towards her house. "Come on." She led the way inside with a smile. "Harmony visits in dreams. Didn't she visit you in yours?"
"Used to..." Chaos comforting scratched at her cheek as she came inside, swatting the door shut with her tail. "But now we visit face to face, or she sends me a message to come visit her." A thought came to her. "Are you and Harmony really close friends?"
"Yes... no? It's... complicated." Harmony Comforting worked her hooves together. "I owe her everything. But we don't just... chat... She's Harmony! She has a whole world to watch... I'm just helping out. I was selfish, at first, taking up her time... But I've grown out of that." She tapped a hoof on her chest. "I'm proud of that."
Chaos Comforting huffed. "Not... the relationship I have with my Harmony... She's like a dear friend. I would help her, when she asks, but she has to ask."
Harmony Comforting looked aghast. "She has to ask?! She's watching a whole world... She tells me what's needed, and I do my best. It's the least I can do."
Chaos Comforting held up her hands. "Let's not get too worked up. Two different Harmonies. Two different Comfortings. We each have our own way of doing it."
Harmony Comforting nodded. "True... Sorry. I shouldn't chastise someone that's not even from this world..." She suddenly smiled with a new thought. "Have you ever said no?"
"Mm?"
"To Harmony. Have you ever said no to her?"
Chaos Comforting considered that. "Only once."
Harmony Comforting flinched. "Was... it... She only would... It had to be important... What happened?"
Chaos Comforting waved over herself. "This happened. I turned down Harmony's offer of princess, and the even scarier option of--"
"--There was a more scary option?!" Harmony Comforting looked horrified at the mere idea of it. "What was the scarier option?"
"I handle it myself," explained Chaos Comforting. "And either live, or die, with nobody to blame, or thank, but myself. Hmmm. I wonder what that me looks like..."
"The not dead option, I hope." Harmony Comforting dared a little smile, clearly rocked by the new information. "I didn't even know that was... possible. I was hurt, and Harmony helped me. There were no questions, she just helped me."
"Mine asked. Discord offered too. I took his." She spread her mismatched hands. "Ta da! He's my dad now."
"Your father?" Harmony Comforting hiked up a brow. "And Fluttershy... He must like that." She was smiling at that, hopping up onto her couch. "Daughter of Discord. That explains a lot of things... You are Chaos Comforting."
"You are Harmony Comforting," countered Chaos Comforting, floating up to sit even with the couch. "Nice to meet you. What would the other Comforting be?"
"We would have to meet her."
"Do you want to?"
"No," flatly denied Harmony Comforting. "It's none of my business, if we're being honest. Harmony will send me to her, if it is. Leaving to go look would be betraying her."
"Harmony sent me here. My Harmony." Chaos Comforting pointed off to where a Harmony stood, in theory.
"About that." Harmony Comforting waggled a hoof at Chaos Comforting. "You turned her down. How... why are you two still talking, at all?"
Chaos Comforting considered that, the weaving path that led to that point. "Long story. For one, she felt bad when I got hurt. We never stopped talking. Then I went to visit her, and I kept helping her. Um... also, I think becoming this might have broken a few things." She scratched behind her head. "Too much chaos, maybe? She was... weakened, confused. I couldn't leave her like that, so I help her a lot, actually... In different ways, probably way different from how you do it."
"Way different," easily agreed Harmony Comforting. "How many ponies have you helped?"
"Most... of them aren't ponies?" This only got a shocked expression. "What? Other creatures deserve love too."
"S-sure, of course... But my quests have all been ponies..." Harmony Comforting rubbed at her cheek. "Our lives are very different now. I imagine, with time, it will only grow further apart."
Chaos Comforting darted in, only pulling to a screeching halt at the last very second. "Sorry! May I hug you?"
Harmony Comforting giggled at that. "Of course you can. You don't have to ask to hug."
Chaos Comforting floated there, blinking dumbly. "Wow."
"Wow?" What was confusing Chaos Comforting was... confusing. "Wow what?"
"The time we got hurt wasn't where we split." Chaos Comforting landed gently. "We were never the same pony..."
"You aren't even a pony," noted Harmony Comforting with a little smirk. "But... expand on that?"
Chaos Comforting waved over herself. "I don't like being hugged or touched without a warning. I never did. I never did."
Harmony Comforting's eyes widened. "What? I love being hugged by friendly people." She pointed to Chaos Comforting's lack of a mark. "I have a mark for it! You're me... How can you be me and hate hugs?!" She threw her forehooves wide. "What chaos is this?!"
"Ha ha." Chaos Comforting rolled her eyes. "I like hugs quite a bit, I just prefer to be the one giving them. Getting them is great too, if I know it's coming." A thought came to her. "Hey, how's the Twilight lessons going?"
"She's the best! At magic lessons at least." Harmony Comforting's horn began to glow with the promise of power. "I learn more every time we meet. Oh, your book must be so large, since you're not being sent on quests. Show me!"
"Uh... not so much..." admitted Chaos Comforting. "Once I became this..." She gestured over her chaos self. "Magic lost a lot of its appeal. I can do anything, about, just by wanting it to happen."
Harmony Comforting clopped her hooves to her cheeks. "Really?! Um... Oh... You have all of Discord's power?"
"In theory? I'm still learning it. You're still learning magic. We're the same there." Chaos Comforting shrugged a little. "The way it is. But I can get a lot done. I bet you can too. But I also bet you couldn't match Twilight."
"Magic is her cutie mark." Harmony Comforting snorted. "That's hard to match! Starlight's pretty close though. It's hard to say which of the two is top. But she has a magic mark too." Harmony Comforting pointed at her own mark. "Not magic."
"Not magic." Chaos Comforting shrugged. "But still magic. Just not the best magic. I'm chaos, but not the best chaos... I miss Twilight magic lessons, but we talk about other stuff at least."
"I'm glad to hear that." Harmony Comforting slid to the floor and offered both hooves. "Hug?"
"Hug." Chaos Comforting crashed into her harmonious doppelganger, the two snuggling in an intense bout of affection. "We may be different."
"But we are the same in the important ways," concluded Harmony Comforting. "Is it nice, having hands again?"
"Best part!" Chaos Comforting wriggled her fingers at her twin. "I really like having fingers again."
Harmony Comforting extended a hoof. "Being a pony has its advantages. No pony gets scared when we first meet."
Chaos Comforting flinched at that, remembering the fleeing ponies when she first appeared. "Yeah... That's a thing. Oh! The students!"
"The students? You mean at Twilight's school?"
Chaos Comforting nodded quickly. "Are you good friends with them?"
"I am friends with some of them, but only as neighbors, really..." Harmony Comforting shrugged. "I only visit for Twilight lessons, mostly. Other than that, I'm doing Harmony quests, or I'm 'just' a princess, doing princess things. I'm not a student, of that school. Not anymore..."
Chaos Comforting waved over herself. "Don't you see it? I have a bit of each of them?" She tapped a yak hoof on the ground and lashed a griffon tail. "They're... super important to me."
Harmony Comforting smiled gently at that. "I am so happy to hear you have close friends. I have them too, but they are not the same friends."
Sheesh, this chapter came out in a rush, but felt so... heavy. The implications are many! I presume folks would prefer I explore this alter-verse a little before heading home, yeah?
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Now you see interaction of individuals of Comforticorn Comforticus species
I like chaos comforting better. She is helping harmony understand people better which will allow her to make better choices in the future. Harmony comforting has forgotten her friendship with harmony and her origins which was allowing her to help harmony.
The two Comfortings are getting along very well.
I wonder what would "recovered without becoming either an Alicorn or Chaos Spirit" Comforting be like?
I wonder who Harmony Comforting's friends are, since they aren't the same friends.
The interaction continues to be interesting.
11531296
We can't really reach that conclusion from the available information, since we can look at how they got to where they are and conclude truthfully that the path leading them towards harmony or chaos was not the shatterpoint; that came earlier - perhaps much earlier, even before coming to Equestria - and moving towards harmony or chaos was only a consequence of that.
Harmony never asked HC what she wanted to do when she was hurt; she just did it. HC was never really a friend of Harmony; she was always an agent. Similarly, CC was never really an agent of Harmony; she was always a friend. The Chaos Six are Harmony's agents (you know what I mean), or will be, and CC is a friend who sometimes assists. HC is an agent of Harmony, and if the Harmony Six become anything, it will be HC's assistants.
But it was always going to be that way; the decision that lead each of them down their respective paths occurred long before the incident. The dominos were already set up long before, and the decision to become an alicorn or draconequus simply knocked them over. Which means that any other Comforting Shade we might meet will have the same shatterpoint as HC and CC; we'd have to travel to a further dimension to find Comfortings with a different shatterpoint, and go further back in time to find the shatterpoint that set our Comfortings up for their common shatterpoint. That's what I think, at least.
11531488
I adore your thorough thinking of this and have nothing but adoration to share.
11531488
Comforting always wanted to be her friend. From the first time they met. But when she became a chaos being she chose to visit her friend. Harmony tried to pull away but Comforting wouldn't let their friendship go. Harmony Comforting doesn't do friendship anymore just helping.
great chapter
That kind of difference in personality feels like something that would have to come from late childhood
It's an interesting surprise that, despite being so similar, even with both having lived previous human lives, the two Comfortings are much more different than expected. The biggest surprise to me was that Alicorn Comforting is not bothered by unexpected hugs...which suggests that the divergences between the two of them may have even stretched back as far to their previous human lives.
It's definitely a perplexing thought to think of what a Comforting who survived the accident but did not accept help from either Discord or Harmony wold be like.
There seem to be so many unknown variables, in that case. 
Alicorn Comforting seems a bit more "limited" in the sense that she mostly only takes care of ponies, and never met Screwball or Cracked.
With that in mind, it's very cute that Chaos Comforting points out how the Student Six are so important to her that they are literally part of her.
Alicorn Comforting is still very cute and interesting in her own way, though.
It was especially cute to see her mention that her title, the Princess of Caring, is very similar to how her mom, Fluttershy, is Element of Kindness. At least both Comfortings are, indeed, the same in the most important ways, like loving their mom. 
As far as parentage goes, it was also cute to see Alicorn Comforting seem quite fascinated at learning that Chaos Comforting was now Discord's daughter.
I personally feel that you did an excellent job making this feel like two different iterations of the same person from two dimensions having a conversation with each other. You did a great job juggling the subtle differences and similarities.
Looking forward to more.
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11532617
Or even before.
So she didn't watch the show, or the show she watched was different.
11531288
Stereotypical Nature Documentary Person:Look at the wild Inordinatio Equss and Concordia Equus talking to each other in their natural habitat. See how their ears turn? That helps them with their sensitive auditory capabilities.
Oh, look! They're looking at me, glaring. That means that they don't like me talking about them as if they're wild animals in a nature documentary.
Woah, that Inordinatio Equss is about to snap its claw! I wonder what it's gonna do?
(The camera falls to ground, the person that had been holding it now gone. Chaos Comforting teleports it into lava to make sure that any evidence of this event became lost forever.)
11532727
I don't think either Comforting would go this far, especially as a first reaction.
11532617
A lesson in how realities could work. Even the smallest change could be the result of a thousand other changes.
That would surely be a different Comforting, who declined all offers of help. What would lead her to that?
Harmony Comforting is a Good Girl, and was from the start, which meant she never argued with Harmony, she was all Harmony, and it shows in everything she does.
The two care about important things enough to share a good fluffy hug, yay!
Same person, different paths that lead to actually making/causing different resolutions. It's not just that one moment, how can it be? The same Harmony with the same background will make the same decision.
11532748
Huh, now that I think about it, it sounds darker than I thought it had been when I posted the comment.
Edit:Now, it looks darker.
11532635
That's right, they could potentially have differences that extend as far back as genetic conditions in the womb.
11532756
That's a very good description of how a "butterfly effect" of sorts can affect the multiverse.
That actually is an excellent question, to think of what might lead that specific version of Comforting to decline all offers of help in that situation. Very mysterious.
It's very interesting to think Harmony Comforting never argued with Harmony at all, while Chaos Comforting, fittingly, had many, many negotiations with Harmony, some of which are ongoing.
Hard to go wrong with a good fluffy hug.
It really is interesting to see how vastly different circumstances will cause what is technically the same person to make very different choices.
You said they weren't the same from the start, but still, I am happy Conforting became a Chaos Spirit, her relationship with Harmony is too good to pass up.
I bet that hug was very comfortable.
11777120
Fixity! These were interesting times.