New Endings, Old Starts

by David Silver

139 - Furnishings

Gallus took the two things being offered to him. In one hand, a hayburger, er, fishburger, really. In the other, hayfries. "Seriously. A few walkways, up there." He wove his fingers along imagined lines. "I'll get one."

Comforting took a bite of a crispy hayfry. "Enjoy your hayfries. They're best fresh." Soggy old fries? No thanks. "Oh, actually. Mom gave me some bits to go furniture shopping. Want to do that later?"

Gallus inclined his head with the skill of a bird. "Well... Do pony furniture shops have perches?"

Comforting shrugged cluelessly. "We'll find out together. You may see other things that I'd miss while we're at it. For now, we eat."

Ocellus nudged Comforting with a hoof. "What's it like? I never had my own house before... It looks... overwhelming, in a way."

"In a good way." Comforting considered how to, or even if she should, mention she'd owned a home before, a life away. "A good way. I am very very happy to have this friendship house, with friends included." She hugged Ocellus gently, driving the worry from the changeling. "Enjoying?" she called up at Cracked.

"They go so quickly." She had none of the burgers or fries left, having eaten them. "But they are so delicious while they remain. Thank you for the treat. Little hunters, do you wish to hunt?"

Smolder flew up with a rapid bobbing of her head. "What or where are we prowling today?" She glanced at Yona. "Besides yaks."

"No hunting," huffed out Yona, to make sure that was known.

Gallus swatted Comforting on the upper back. "I'll take a raincheck. I'm furniture shopping."

Smolder snickered. "Yeah yeah. Have fun! Let's go." She darted through the Cracked-sized double doors, Cracked not far behind her. It was time to hunt.

Yona nodded at Comforting. "Good place. Will see later. You have thing to do."

Comforting shared a warm and powerful hug with Yona, as if Yona gave other kinds. "Take care!" She waved at her departing friends, leaving her with Gallus. "Wanna go now? I'm too excited to just lay down anyway. Besides... Friendship house, running low on friends." She fired a hopeful smile.

Gallus rolled his eyes at that. "Yeah yeah. You still have at least one." He waved for her to come along. "Let's go shopping. One thing though. You could make whatever furniture you want, so why not... that?"

"I want it to last longer than a scene." She skipped along merrily at his side, the good day saved. "So--"

"Scene?"

Oops. That was not a word that made sense for normal creatures. "A moment. If I make it, it could go away as easily as I made it, and that's pretty easy. The moment I take my eyes off it, it may be gone."

"Huh... Wild. So you could make all the money you want?"

"And it'd probably vanish not long after." Comforting shrugged at this envisioned scenario. "Easy come, easy go. Why I'll be using the bits mom gave me, and what I earn for myself."

This seemed to make enough sense for Gallus. "I... get it. Crazy, but I get it. Alright. First stop, Quills and Sofas. Wild name..."

They pressed inside to find Davenport, the owner, approaching them with a smile. "Hello!" He hesitated a moment, taking measure of who his customers actually were. "What fortune!"

Gallus squinted suspiciously. "What fortune? We just walked in."

"We just got a load of new sofas." He gestured at a row of almost a dozen sofas crowding the room behind him. "And you look like you have a hunger for a good sofa. Also, I have something just suited for an avian of fine tastes." He trotted off to a cushioned perch to gesture at it. "They said I'd be sitting on this forever, but I knew Twilight's presence would draw discerning eyes in no time at all."

Comforting hop-skipped over to look from one sofa to the next. "So many styles..." But which would be right?

Gallus squeezed the perch with a hand, testing its texture and give. "Wow, this is a luxury perch..." He lifted it, or tried. With great heaving effort, he got it over his head. "Solid... Not bad." He got it back to the ground with a woosh of breath. "Where'd you get this?"

Davenport smiled with subdued smugness. "A true merchant never gives away his sources. Would you like a perch?"

Gallus grabbed Comforting by the shoulder and turned her towards the perch. "Eh?" He tossed his head at it. "For your upstairs."

"Mmm..." She closed with it, grabbing it in both hands. "Soft." She squeezed it, but it only had so much give. "Strong..." It had a nice color and feel... "How much is it?"

Davenport quoted the price without hesitation.

"Just checking... Does Fluttershy get a discount? She's my mom."

Davenport shook his head at that. "Not even Twilight gets a discount, and she's one of my best customers. I already do my best to keep the prices low, ma'am."

"No harm asking." Comforting snapped her fingers, that small attempt, failed. "But this may be a good idea, Gallus. This'll be out of Cracked's way, but be a nice thing to sit on."

"And connect some of that open space you have up there." He pointed upwards, even if Quills and Sofas had not much upwards to point at.

"That too." She fished out the bag of bits her mother had given to her. "I'll take it."

"Not yet." He went up to the perch and pressed in on one end of it, causing it to dramatically unfurl. "Hang that and you can use it as a hammock, too!"

Comforting and Gallus shared a moment of wide eyes. Comforting pressed the bag against him. "Taking it."

"Sold." He took the bits from the bag and returned it to Comforting. "Where do you want this dropped off, or will you be taking it yourself?"

"I'll take it." She rolled it back up tight and stuffed it away in a fit of chaotic power. "But, thanks for asking. Appreciate it."

"Of course." He dipped his head at Comforting. "Can I interest you in a quill?"

Comforting had been ready to decline that, but... "Actually... Do you have ink and paper to go with it?"

"We sure do." He led her over to the quills portion of the store. "Everything you need to get writing. Even a few writing tables if you like."

Comforting grabbed a quill. A quill was a quill, right? They seemed pretty standardized. She grabbed an ink pot to go with it. "I'll need ink." Davenport directed and she grabbed a bottle of that. "And..." She tapped the desk everything was on. "A desk."

"Of course." He retreated and returned swiftly with a desk over him, weighing down each struggling step. "Will you--" She grabbed it and stuffed it away. "That'll be--" He quoted the price and bits were exchanged. "Enjoy!" He waved at the two as they left. "Today... is a good day." He had sold a quill, writing desk, and sofa. Surely that was a quality day. "Quills and Sofas, who would ever need those two things?" He had proven them wrong!

Gallus cycled his hands in the air. "That perch is something else. I never saw a perch you can unfold like that."

"Me neither." Comforting took a moment to imagine it, properly installed. "That'll be great! You had a really good idea." She danced ahead of him. "Thanks for the gift."

"Gift?" He looked Comforting over. "I didn't pay for any of it."

"No, but I wouldn't have gotten it without you." She hopped up to give him a firm hug. "So it's still your gift. Thanks." She slid back to the ground. "Now... Do you know where they sell beds? The hammock is super neat, but I want a bed bed for nightly slumber."

Gallus colored faintly as he was embraced. "Y-yeah, over here." He led her onwards to a new store, filled with beds of all shapes and sizes. "Hey, so... Don't take this the wrong way, but I get the impression, a lot, that you are not a little foal."

Comforting perked an ear. "Wha? Did I do something odd?"

"Not odd, exactly..." He waved over her as they wandered around the store. "It's everything put together... It's hard to put a finger on it, but I... You know too much about some things, and not enough about others. It's odd... Not bad odd, just odd odd." He smirked as he worked through it. "Figures, for a chaos spirit."

"I am one of those." She jumped up onto a bed, bouncing on its springs. "I like this one."

"You did it again." He waved over the bed. "This? It's big for a foal." He leaned in to look at the sign on it. "Princess sized? Wow, go big or go home."

Comforting flopped on it, belly first. "What if I want to go big and go home, what then?"

Gallus snickered softly. "Then you buy this, apparently. Seriously, this is sized more for... two ponies, and you're barely one."

Comforting rolled over on the bed, there being plenty of room to do that. "But I like it..."

"Your bits." He shrugged. "And your house. If you like it, you like it. Don't forget a blanket though."

Comforting sat up sharply. "Good idea!" She flagged down a sales pony to amass the things together needed to complete her bedroom. "You are such a great shopping buddy."

They bounced from store to store, making good use of the bag Fluttershy had given, and draining it steadily. It was a fine day to shop, and shop they did.

---

Cracked returned home with a loud yawn so wide her jaw cracked from the force of it. "A fine hunt."

"Yeah." Smolder went up to the closed doors. "Huh, so Comforting actually does close these sometimes." She pulled them open. "Knock knock!"

Cracked went to enter, stepping over Smolder on the way. "We have..." She trailed off, the house transformed with furnishings. Not many in the livingroom, where Cracked would reside and likely knock over any furniture that got in her way. But she could see so many new things in the kitchen, and what was that? She poked at the new strange stick parked between two bannisters. "Things have... changed..."

Smolder flew in with a laugh. "Wow, they really went all out. You know what this means?"

Cracked inclined an ear at smolder. "I do not."

"You could guess." But Smolder didn't pry further. "It means we can cook here. Comfy ain't against good meat, and it's closer than our secret cave."

Cracked wagged her tail with sudden joy. "That would be lovely, to prepare our food right by my den? I am being spoiled..."

Smolder went to scope out the kitchen, to discover they occupied it with one Comforting, mid-baking something. "Hey, Comfy! What are you working on?"

Comforting waved eagerly and glanced at a clock. "About ten minutes to pie. Did Gallus finish the perch?"

"I didn't see him." She leaned back out and looked up. "That's the big post with a thing draped out of it, yeah?"

"Draped... Oh!" Comforting zipped out and up, floating up until she was over the hammock to find Gallus napping peacefully in it. "Aw..."

"Aw," echoed Smolder, just next to Comforting and able to see it too. "You two must have had quite the day. He looks wiped out."

"Look at all we got!" Comforting threw open the door to her room, then another that would serve as an office. "He was super helpful. How'd your hunt go?"

"Great! Even if I'm going to send poor Cracked to get the meat and bring it here, if you don't mind."

Comforting inclined her head and started. "Oh! A fridge... Actually..." She hissed with thought, landing outside the kitchen. "On this one... I will cheat." She rubbed her hands together as if it were cold, fog misting the air in front of her. "A cold place." She exhaled chilly winds and it gathered into a strange nexus of chill. "This is my fridge, for keeps. What you put in there, cold and safe."

Smolder peered at the swirling cold nexus. "Wow... You held in that chaosing for the last thing, huh? Cracked! Let's get to it!" They had to put their first thing in that 'fridge'.

Author's Note:

This house is officially warmed, and also chilled? Hm. Everycreature involved seems pleased with the result at least. I think that's a fin for this arc.

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Comments

[midnight arrow]

Great chapter

[Prettypony]

I think Comforting is underestimating how permanent chaos magic can actually be. The sleight of hand stuff may not be all that permanent, but I think snappy stuff can be. After all, Screwball is still chaos-touched.

[David Silver]

11633703
Screwball wasn't a fast creation, lovely though she may be.

[Prettypony]

11633704
That's kind of my point, she wasn't created from scratch but she's still permanently affected by the chaos magic. I'm just imagining all the shenanigans Comforting can do once she starts grabbing the Universe's attention to make stuff, rather than making things when it's not looking.

[David Silver]

11633749
One must be careful when playing god. One hopes Comforting won't make too much of a mess.

[Amethyst Dragonfly]

I hereby dub that persistent cold area the Comforting-ator Refigerated Space. 😉

[Theresa]

11621068
I assume she have something similar to the tree of harmony and that it would look much different than the landscape around it.

[readsponies]

Hmm, if she has ponies over she might rethink not putting a door on her vortex of frigidity. Or when she needs to put away the ketchup.

[David Silver]

11635077
She would maybe be insulted if told of this idea.

[Twinkie Sprinkle]

Nice to see a Quills and Sofas reference, and to see Comforting settling into her new home. Looking forward to the next arc!

[Poparakelis]

Finally reached the end, and Will Comforting and Amity have that date? Did they already have it, did I miss it?

[David Silver]

11637656
Not happened yet.