New Endings, Old Starts

by David Silver

114 - You Are Me

So it was that Comforting headed home after a final petting stroke of the new Amity. "Have fun!" she bade before launching back towards Ponyville at about the pace of a lazy seagull. She spotted that cockatrice, the same one as before, roosting on a stone snake. A victim? Comforting darted past it to touch down near Fluttershy's house. Her house too!

Fluttershy was outside, tending to her many animal friends. It seemed that day was a nail day. She was trimming and caring for each little fuzzball's little claws as they came up for their turn. Her wings held the clippers and worked gently to get them just right.

Comforting waved at her mother, but didn't interrupt the work going on. Across the road lounged a magnificent beast, watching it all. "Hey Cracked." She skipped towards the fearsome predator that was pretty nice by her estimation. "What are you up to?"

"I want a turn." She directed a large hoof at the line of animals. "But, if I rush, I scare them, and upset your mother. I will wait my turn. A good predator strikes when the odds of success are in their favor, and without wasting energy."

Comforting took hold of one of Cracked's claws, her right hind paw. "These are large..." Everything about Cracked was large. "But pretty."

Cracked's ears flickered. "Pretty? Not the word I expected. Mmm, you remind me." She casually placed her hooves on either side of Comforting, curling in offer of a hug. When Comforting allowed it to happen, she drew the chaotic being in for a gentle embrace. "When I lived, the first time... I wasn't the only of me... There were others who could call me pretty, or ugly. They didn't all agree."

Comforting gasped. "Oh! You had a second life too. I didn't even think of that." She held up a hand high. "Welcome to the reincarnation club!"

Cracked touched a hoof to the offered hand. "What do I get for being a member of this illustrious organization?"

"You get to live, twice, maybe three times?" Comforting stroked her fuzzy chin. "Maybe a lot of times. We're still working that out."

Cracked touched her large snout to Comforting. It was a gentle thing, from her view. It knocked Comforting back, rocking in place. "If you eat me, then I am gone. That is the rule of nature."

"They broke you into lots of pieces." Comforting threw her hands wide. "That's pretty dead and gone. They even tossed your parts a world away. Very gone. But here we are, enjoying a conversation."

"Hm." Cracked rose to her hooves and paws. "You have a point... A second life. Maybe a third, as you said. I will not assume that. This may be my last. I will guard it well and enjoy it. If a third comes, I will guard it just as carefully."

"Probably a good idea." Comforting floated up and swung around Cracked's powerful neck to land on its back, mounting her friend. "What are you up to today?"

"I was going to see Gallus, about his machine. Do you wish to come with me? He said you were allowed there. Not many are." Despite having asked that, Cracked was already moving, perhaps assuming the answer.

"I'd love to." Comforting hugged her big pony-wolf of a friend from above. "I can't help, magically, without risking it all, but if I can help, physically, or just by being there, I'm for it."

"This will please him." She stepped over a river that most used the bridge to traverse. "You eat meat, yes? I caught something delicious... It's there. You will eat with us?"

Comforting turned her eyes to the sky, guessing the time. Mid-afternoon? "Alright. That shouldn't spoil dinner. I don't want to miss what..." She trailed off, frowning suddenly.

"What's wrong?" Cracked pivoted an ear back at her rider. "You went quiet suddenly."

"I just realized something." She scratched gently through the thick fur of Cracked. "I can eat whenever I want, or just not eat... I'm still getting used to that idea."

"Mmm?" Cracked paused in her trek to look back at Comforting. "If you do not eat, you die. I do not want you to die. Eat. It's that simple."

"It's not that simple..." But how to explain spirit natures to Cracked? "I'm not really alive in the first place. You can't kill what's already dead." She pulled a noose that hadn't been there, hanging herself idly, not that it hurt, or even carried her far from Cracked, just to fall back into place.

"You felt scared. You were bleeding and injured. Now you say none of that mattered?" Cracked worked through the situation in slow purposefulness, a wolf considering its next prey. "How can that be?"

"You were different in that world too," countered Comforting, tickle-scratching as she did so. "So was I. I wasn't a spirit there. I could bleed and die and that'd be sad... But, here, spirit. I don't think spirits can die..."

"Technically." There was Discord, floating alongside Comforting. "It is possible."

"How?!"

"I would hear this." Cracked turned an ear on Discord. "Comforting's father, inform us."

"Since you asked." Discord directed a thumb at himself. "To each spirit, a purpose. If we abandon that purpose, well, now the universe has no need for us, and neither do we. Then you don't have that spirit anymore. I'm a spirit of chaos, it's my thing!"

Comforting tapped at her chin. "I'm a spirit of... comforting?"

Discord shrugged. "I've heard worse purposes before. So if you got it in your head to un-comfort creatures, you'd be in trouble."

Comforting sat up bolt straight. "No wonder!"

"No wonder what?" Discord leaned in with a leer. "Show your work to the class."

"You knew!" She swatted at Discord with a huff, which only made him laugh for the effort. "You knew Harmony was hurt! You knew why! You knew it all and you let us freak out and--"

"Figure it out," concluded Discord. "Welcome to being a spirit, a watcher. Letting creatures figure it out is half our job. If it helps, it almost happened to me, once. Can you imagine it? Me, orderly? For Fluttershy, worth it."

Cracked huffed out a brief chuckle. "Almost dying for a mate? I can understand that... Were a mate of mine threatened, I would do much to protect them."

Comforting scratched almost curiously at Cracked. "I didn't think you had much of a romantic drive."

"I lack a target. You are too small, and female. You are still small." Her eyes, well, one eye, was on Discord, She was still facing ahead in her trek. "And I don't know you that well. Your appearance is not immediately attractive."

"Well!" Discord huffed into a mighty pout. "I'm perfectly attractive, I'll have you know!"

Comforting wagged a finger at him. "That's relative, Dad. Now, we're going somewhere they did not invite you to, so shoo. See you later."

"Fine, be that way." He casually slipped between here and there, vanishing with a pop.

With him gone, Cracked accelerated, at least until some little ponies got in her way. "Hm?"

"Hiya!" Apple Bloom waved up at the dominant predator. "Hey, Comforting."

"Hi!" Comforting waved down at the crusaders. "What's up? We were just heading out."

Scootaloo folded her arms. "Diamond's been kinda... extra recently."

Sweetie bobbed her head. "As one of her besties, we were hoping you could look in on it. Silver's too under her hooves."

Apple Bloom pointed up at Comforting. "You're her friend, but you could also bend her into a pretzel the moment you wanted to, salt included if you were feeling it, so..."

"You're the best bet," they all agreed in harmony.

Part of her wanted to leap to their aid, but... But... Something was holding her back. Hesitation overwhelmed her. "I trust you. Do your best. I know you can do it... But if it gets terrible... Consider me a last ditch resort. Call me if everything else explodes."

The crusaders pouted, but moved out of Cracked's path. Apple Bloom sighed. "We'll do our best, honest."

Scootaloo waved as Cracked resumed movement. "Have fun, wherever you're going!"

Cracked soon put distance behind them at an easy lope. "Why did not not help them? That didn't seem like you. You are usually so eager to help when you can. To deliver Comfort."

"It... Sometimes..." Comforting wriggled, trying to find the right words for it. "It didn't feel right?" But it clicked. "Amity!" Her friend had influenced her, like a piece on a very large board. "Why did you stop me? Mmf... But if she did that, I'm sure she had a reason... A good one, I hope. They're such wonderful fillies."

"I do not understand." Not that this stopped Cracked. They soon arrived at the secret cave. "Gallus?"

"Nope." Smolder emerged with a smile. "Hey, you brought comfie-cakes along. Yo." She waved at Comforting and fired a finger gun. "Get down from there."

Comforting slid/floated to the ground, landing on her feet. "Hi! So, I hear the predator club got the machine all working."

"Took some effort." Smolder buffed her chest. "But we got it. Gallus is inside, doing a run. Now, I hear you brought lunch today."

"Yes." Cracked stepped over Smolder, heading inside the cave. She had to crouch down to fit properly. It proved to be a snug fit, but she fit, ultimately, curling around the machine there, her great snout directed at a busy Gallus. "There you are."

"Hey." He noticed Comforting walking in a moment later. "Hey! Comfie. What's up? Wanted to see it in action?" He waved at the machine with obvious pride.

Comforting came jogging in with Smolder. "Hey!" She closed with the machine, looking at it curiously. "It changed..."

"It did." Smolder turned as she passed by. "Cracked moved the big or stuck parts. Me and Gallus were Team Fingers. With us all together, we got this thing doing what we wanted."

Smolder fired a thumbs up. "And it didn't stand a chance. Watch!" She slapped a big red button and it hummed to life, something happening inside it. "Now we wait a moment... Hey, Gallus, what'd you leave it set to?"

"We're about to find out." He hurried to the end of it, holding out a hand patiently for something to fall into it. "Wow. Did you plan this?" He held up a keyring. On one side, filly Comforting. On the other, chaos Comforting. "Since you and Harmony--"

"--Amity--" cut in Comforting. "Sorry, she changed her name."

"Did she? She didn't tell us... But that's right at my point." He offered the keyring towards Comforting. "You two are tight, we can see that. Shoot, you knew she changed her name, and we didn't have a clue. But we could see you two were big pals, so we thought... especially since she looks like this?"

"It's wonderful." Comforting hugged the keyring with her and Amity on it. "How much do I owe?"

Gallus hiked a brow. "I won't say no... but you're one of the models. I figure I owe you at least one of the prints. If I gave you another one, could you get it to Amity?"

Smolder clapped at that. "Yeah! I don't know how she'd wear it, but she may like it. That'd be great."

Cracked nodded softly. "One for each model. Now, lunch. Will you assist?" The other predators cheered as they moved to set up a fire to prepare the food over. "I am not good at cooking," admitted Cracked. "But to watch, and smell, and listen to the process... a genuine pleasure. Food becomes even better by the moment. That nervous anticipation. I want to eat it... I want it so bad, but I know waiting makes it better. That competition, mmm..." She was sitting, tail wagging like the excited dog she was. "I love it."

Smolder puffed a bit of flame to get the fire going properly. "And we like cooking the stuff she catches. She's really good at finding stuff worth cooking."

"Not to speak badly of the Professor and whatever." Gallus waved it off. "But her staff? Ponies. This is the real stuff."

So they all sat around the fire to enjoy some lovingly grilled meats.

Author's Note:

Cracked forgets about her nail care, distracted by predator triumphs and lunch times. Priorities!

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Comments

[midnight arrow]

11549740
no sorry

[midnight arrow]

great chapter

[redmar]

We'll do out best

Our best. Typo's are not invited.

[David Silver]

11549938
Escorted off the premises.

[readsponies]

"It did." Smolder turned as she passed by. "Cracked moved the big or stuck parts. Me and Smolder were Team Fingers. With us all together, we got this thing doing what we wanted."

Who is talking here? It looks like one of these Smolders should be a Gallus.

[Amethyst Dragonfly]

Smolder's nickname of comfie-cakes for Comforting is so cute!

Ah, so that's how Amity "playing Comforting" works.

It seems like things have settled back into normalcy for Comforting and company.

[David Silver]

11550144
Fixed! No typos near the machine.

[Twinkie Sprinkle]

Interesting to see Comforting passing that cockatrice, especially since the specifics of what a cockatrice actually does from day to day seems like one of the biggest mysteries and subjects of debate in the fandom.

Great to see Comforting seeing her mom again, along with some Critters, and Cracked.

Comforting and Cracked got up to a lot of interesting conversation about the strangeness of death and reincarnation, as will as the subjectivity of beauty.

I found the callback to Comforting's human world adventure particularly interesting. Not only did she help literally piece Cracked back together, but Comforting was injured and frightened of dying in a way that she wouldn't need to be in Equestria.

But as her dad pointed out, spirits still need a purpose to exist. Luckily, Comforting has a lot of people to help with that purpose.

While Comforting naturally wasn't happy at first to learn it, that's another good point about the way Discord acts...he knows a lot more about others' problems than he lets on, but due to his nature and purpose, much of the help he gives needs to be slow, indirect, and roundabout.

Discord's appearance surprised me again, but he is pretty consistent in the way that speaking his name will make him more likely to appear.

Cracked's statement about being potentially interested in a mate, but not finding a suitable one at the moment was an interesting surprise, too.

Apple Bloom pointing out that Comforting could, in theory, bend Diamond into a pretzel "with salt" was oddly amusing to me.

But thanks to Amity, Comforting won't be talking Diamond out of anything just yet. I had admittedly forgotten Amity was "playing" as Comforting. It will be interesting to see where Amity's influence takes Comforting in the near future.

Gallus' charm machine producing Comforting and Amity charms was quite cute, too.

It's a nice, relaxing way to end the chapter, with a cookout, largely possible in part due to Cracked's expert hunting and good taste, providing a good time for our heroes.

Quite a bit going on this time. As always, looking forward to more.

[Prettypony]

Gods I love this story so much. The character interactions are sooo good.

Also, I know Comforting is technically a child in this story (though she rarely acts like one) but I think her and Amity would be a cute couple. When she's older anyway. But since she's a spirit, I feel like her form being that of a child draconequus is more of how she feels she's supposed to look. I doubt spirits, chaos spirits especially (harmonious or otherwise), would age the way mortals do. Reminds me of Steven Universe in that regard.

[David Silver]

11550573
You're not wrong there. She looks how she feels. She's still exploring and enjoying being an innocent fluffball. One day she may tire of that. Perhaps when her friends leave that stage well behind themselves?

[David Silver]

11550469
Phew! You give detailed rundowns, and I love it.

Everycreature needs a purpose, just some are better at floating for a time without, but even that's rarely a lasting arrangement.

History doesn't always repeat, but it likes to rhyme.

Cracked is a fairly natural beast, inclined to natural wants. A properly executed hunt and a good meal are the signs of a quality day.

Surely Comforting would use sugar, not salt, but that involves bending poor Diamond about.

Amity is there, watching. She always was watching, but this mode is a lot more personal.

Next one's on Sunday if I don't mess up :D Convention time!

[Prettypony]

11550642
I can see that happening. Her friends age and she either makes the conscious choice to keep up or she unconsciously follows along.

Imagine her going through an unconsciously decided chaos spirit puberty.