• Published 26th Jan 2022
  • 10,966 Views, 2,526 Comments

New Endings, Old Starts - David Silver



A well-led life runs into an end. If that was it, it would have been fine, but the forces of the universe were not content, finding another purpose, or perhaps reward, for this being in another world entirely. May she shine gently.

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111 - Click

She pressed the button. Unlike hopping through the mirror, the transition was instant. She had been standing before alter-Twilight and Barb, then before Twilight and Spike. Both were surprised to have Comforting just... appear like that.

Spike poked Comforting lightly. "Hey, we have a door, you know."

Twilight seemed less annoyed. "Fortunately, your timing is good and you didn't catch us at a bad time. What brings you around?"

Comforting stuffed the button away, as useless as it might be. It wasn't her button to toss away. "Sorry about that. I was a world away, literally... Talking with another version of you both." She pointed at spike. "Instead of handsome boy Spike, it was pretty-cute girl Barb."

Spike squinted at the idea. "Pass." He had no particular amount of lack of confidence in his identity, at least gender wise. "She didn't tell you anything weird, did she?"

"Only that she likes Rarity too." Comforting shrugged at the information that everyone knew.

"What?!" Or maybe they didn't? Or, at least, Spike hadn't admitted it. "W-what would make her say that?"

Twilight rolled her eyes, clearly knowing better. "I am uncertain I'd be prepared for that version of Spike, or Barb was it? Why were you there?"

"Yeah, why?" pressed Spike. "Thinking of moving?"

"Hardly." Visions of her other-self, moved out on her own haunted her a moment. "I'm not sure I'm ready for that... And that makes me feel guilty."

Twilight cocked up a brow. "What makes you feel guilty?"

"Guilt?" Descending the stairs, as if summoned by chat of past guilts, came Starlight. "Hey, Comforting. I didn't hear you come in."

Comforting waved at her counselor. "Hey. I didn't come in the usual way. I was just thinking... It's not like I don't know how to take care of myself... am I being... greedy, relying on Fluttershy, mom, as much as I am?" The idea of being seperate from her was a painful stab in her heart. Intellectually, she knew she could live on her own, but she didn't want to...

Starlight gently brushed a few tears away that Comforting hadn't even noticed. "I think these might be an answer. You're a big filly, here." She tapped at Comforting's head. "But you're still a filly right here." She moved the same hoof to Comforting's chest. "Don't rush it. It's not like Fluttershy's upset having you around." She paused. "On the other hoof... She will be awful at saying when that line's being crossed." She switched her footing from one to the other. "On the other other hoof, she has friends, and we're your friends. We will call you out when that day arrives."

Twilight curled an arm gently around Comforting. "Which it has not."

Spike hiked a thumb towards the school they couldn't see from there. "You're a student, not a free-loader. When you get to Fluttershy-brother levels, we'll let you know."

That was the second time he came up. "Is he that bad?"

Twilight sighed with a chuckle. "I've heard a few stories. If you want to know more, either ask her, or Rainbow. She has a... history."

Comforting flinched at that. "That did not sound like a good sort of history... I might do that though." She lifted into the air. "I should check something first." She zipped away without a pause then, leaving them behind.

Starlight shook her head at where Comforting had been. "Cosmic powers, but still has growing to do."

Twilight smiled gently. "Let's help her do that, hm?"

Spike shrugged. "Hmmph, if I had cosmic powers, I'd get more done!"

Twilight poked her assistant/brother. "That is, perhaps, why neither of us have cosmic powers."


Comforting landed near the tree. "Harmony?" She approached the clubhouse on unsure feet. "Are you mad?"

"Why would I be mad?" Not-Twilight stepped from around the tree. "You have returned. Should I be upset?"

Comforting dug out the button and rushed to Harmony, holding it out. "Here!"

"No." She did not reach for the button. "You need it one more time, I think. Friend Comforting, there is another path unwalked that you wish to see. Am I wrong?"

Comforting let the button sag in limp grip. "Oh... I don't have to. If you wanted me to be happy to be here, you did that! I like this world. The other Comforting was... alright, but I like me more than her. I like this-you way more than that other you. She was so mean..."

"I cannot apologize for her." Harmony inclined her head at Comforting slowly. "But I am happy to have you. Comforting Chaos, there is another world you would wish to see. Am I wrong?"

"Comforting Harmony wanted to make the world better... but she approached it so differently..." Comforting worried her hands together, avoiding mashing the button. "All ponies all the time. Ponies are great! But other creatures deserve love too..."

"You left them a seed of chaos." Harmony smiled gently. "You landed on their well tilled lawn and interfered with her plans. You weren't even trying. That Harmony will not think well of you. But, I think..." She considered a quiet moment. "I think their world is improved for it... Comforting Chaos, you disrupted their world, in a good way, I think..."

"Chaotic Harmony," echoed Comforting with a smile. "What would you do if a little thing like that arrived?"

"I would be its friend." She reached for Comforting, drawing them in with permission given silently and hugging her. "And I would treasure her."

Comforting giggled with growing joy. "A good response! Um, but the other path." She fished out the button. "That me didn't have Harmony, or Chaos. She stood on her own hooves for some reason. You want to see it?"

"You want to see it," corrected Harmony gently. "I think this will help. I think you will grow. You do not have to." She directed a hoof at the button. "Press it. Or do not. I can only offer, and you can accept, or not... That is what makes you a poor agent." She saw Comforting wilt at that. "But an excellent friend."

Comforting grabbed her local goddess in a firm hug. "I'll take that!

"Will you look?" Harmony turned her gaze on the button. "You can return when you wish. May I admit something?"

"Of course." Comforting lifted from the ground. "Hard to imagine you did much to be worried about."

"That is kind... When you go, my friend, I see. I have seen what may come of me. Your chaos has grown within me. I am curious. I do not act entirely for neutral benefit. I have seen what may come of you. I prefer this you."

"I... think most people do." She cupped an ear to her head to listen better past that fourth wall. "But what if they like this next one better?"

"Then we will learn something." Harmony studied Comforting. "If you wish. You do not have to press it. I can only ask." She offered a hoof. "Without you, I would be very different. Worse, I think... You will be my favorite, I feel certain. How a Comforting that has denied me completely can be better taken, this escapes me."

"What... would make me do that?" Comforting danced from foot to foot, ground trembling faintly under the stomps of the yak's hoof. "Only one way to find out." She pressed the button and ceased to exist.

She appeared by the eatery that she often spotted Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. They were there, and so was Comforting. Little, pony, Comforting. That Comforting had a few lines, scars? Despite that, she was laughing and talking with the others animatedly.

"I'm not dead," noted Chaos Comforting, glad for that at least. She casually pulled out a bush and hid behind it.

"What are we hiding from?" Pinkie was in the same bushes, hiding alongside Comforting.

Comforting jumped in surprise. "You... are amazing."

"Aw, thanks." She squeezed Comforting with one arm. "You haven't been greeted... but I feel like you have been... Are we friends?" Pinkie gasped with alarm. "Did I forget a friend?!"

Comforting set her hands on Pinkie's chest. "It's alright. I'm from another world and met another you."

"Oh! Why didn't you say that?" she laughed out as if that was an obvious explanation for everything. "Well, nice to meet you, again." She leaned in. "You remind me of Dis--"

Comforting popped a hand over Pinkie's snout. "Speak his name and he will hear. Love him, adopted dad in the other world, but not trying to chat with him right this second."

"Oh." Pinkie drew back just enough to chomp the hand playfully. "So, what are we spying on?"

Comforting pointed to the three fillies gabbing cheerfully. "That one, that's me. Another me."

"You're Comforting?!" Pinkie tilted her head. "Yeah, I can see that..." Of course she could spot it quickly. "Why are you spying on yourself then?"

Comforting smiled at the fellow agent of chaos. "One decision led to me. Another to Princess Comforting. I want to get an idea of what this me is about, and how she ended up this way."

"Wow." Pinkie peeked at filly Comforting. "Gonna admit, Princess Comforting? That's out there... Then again, so are you, so..." She shrugged widely. "I guess we're already that far. So, why not ask her?"

"I would scare her, and her friends." She waved over her chaotic body. "I don't want to do that. If she's at all like me, she's a nice pony. Scaring nice ponies is not my thing."

"We don't want that," agreed Pinkie with a firm nodding. "So I'll ask her."

"Wai--" But Pinkie was already bouncing joyfully towards her target. "Dang it..."

Pinkie bounced up into the fourth chair. "How ya doing, fellow fillies?!"

Diamond peered suspiciously at Pinkie. "You are fooling nopony, and you're not even trying that hard. What's up?"

"Yeah, like, we're eating lunch." Silver waved at her food, not really being picked at. She was busy chatting mostly.

Filly Comforting gently swatted at her friends. "Don't be mean... What's up, Pinkie?"

Chaos Comforting smiled at that. Filly Comforting seemed nice, so far.

Pinkie pointed directly at Chaos Comforting's bush. "Would you believe that there's another Comforting from another world that wants to talk to you but is super scared that you'll get scared but I think she's actually nice?" There was a strong lack of grammar in that quick verbal discharge of words. "If so, she'd love to talk!"

Diamond hopped to the ground and went right for the bush. "What are you tal--" She brushed the brush aside to reveal the quivering chaos agent within it. She scrambled back. "Woah!"

Chaos Comforting slipped free, seeing no use in trying to hide. "Sorry... I come in peace?"

Silver clapped eagerly, grinning down at what could have been Comforting. "Like... wow! Look at... whoever you are?"

Filly Comforting jumped down to join Diamond Tiara. "Hello..."

Every new world, a new round of that. "I'm another... maybe you," tried to explain Chaos Comforting directly. "I was hoping to chat and share bits of how we both ended up where we are. I promise, not here to mess things up. You can tell me to go away if you want."

"That would be mean." Filly Comforting smiled at the strange monstrous mirror of herself. "My name is Comforting. Is that your name?"

"Mine too." Chaos Comforting smiled gently, feeling easier. "Nice to meet you all."

"See!" Pinkie sank down next to them all. "You just had to ask. Alright, I got deliveries to make. Have fun!" She waved excitedly before vanishing in a pink puff to her other tasks.

Diamond dared to prod the new Comforting. "This is so weird..."

Filly Comforting gently swatted Diamond's hoof away. "That's not nice. Do you want to be poked?"

Chaos Comforting hummed gently. "You seem super nice. Why did you turn Harmony away?"

"Who?" Filly Comforting blinked softly. "Never heard of that... Are they a pony from your world?"

Author's Note:

Meet Filly Comforting. What drove her down this path? How did she not meet Harmony?

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