New Endings, Old Starts

by David Silver

158 - It's official

"Hey." Diamond walked at Comforting's side. "I didn't expect to see you here. How'd it go... with her?"

Comforting raised a lone finger. "First, she's still a bit mad about the age swap." Diamond winced at the memory. "Not blaming her, but she agreed to it, which is why she said she can't be too angry." Comforting put out a second finger. "She knows about you and what you're asking me." She turned the two fingers to herself and a third finger went out. "She's meeting with Fluttershy, my mom, since if we get serious, both will be involved as loving parents."

"Loving, right." Diamond dramatically rolled her eyes at that.. "Wait." She leaned in so hard she almost knocked Comforting over. "Is there a thing for them to be involved in?!"

Comforting paused in her walking, turning to Diamond properly. "I think there is, if the offer's still--"

"--Yes!" Diamond colored brightly. "Sorry... Um..." She shrank back a step, dizzy. "Sorry. Please, continue." She did her best to regain her decorum.

Comforting put a hand on Diamond's fuzzy cheek. "You want to be my girlfriend, and for me to be yours. If that's still an option--" She could feel Diamond tense, ready to answer that. "Then I accep--" She didn't get to finish her words, being tackled and hugged by Diamond, knocked to the floor with a thump. "--cept?" The world was spinning briefly, having knocked her head, but it was no lasting injury. It took more than that to knock out a creature like herself.

Diamond buried her face into Comforting's neck, clutching to her with hooves pressed to Comforting's back. "Dummy..."

Comforting tried to sit up, but Diamond was quite insistent. "We are... a thing now?"

"Yes." Diamond slid off, sitting up properly. "Oh, just to be clear, I'm not a backwater hick." She waved over Comforting. "I don't care if you're a guy or a girl. Really, pretty sure you can be either, both, or none, if you want to."

"If I wanted to." Comforting remained what she was to start, for the time. She got up without further objection. "What I am is Comforting Shade, your new plus one. Which comes with questions. It didn't matter before, but now it does! I need to know what language of love you speak."

Diamond colored brightly at that. "Comfy! Bold! You're... moving faster than I thought you would."

Comforting giggled. "Not like that. Different people speak different languages of love. What makes you feel loved? Is love a gift of candy? Is love a written letter? Is love taking time to work on a project with you? Maybe love is a big hug! Love means different things to different people, and different people express it that way, and hope to get it. What is your language of love?" She leaned in with a smile, looming a bit over Diamond with her cheating biped stance. "I want to whisper it in your ear."

That didn't help Diamond's vivid coloring. "Comfie... Um, hm, um..." She danced in place. "I never had anypony ask me that before. I'll... I want... little gifts." She held her hooves up close. "Little things that remind you of me, that you think I'd like. Even if you're wrong sometimes. I want to know you're thinking about me even when I'm not there, and that's a way to show it, and something I can hold onto and treasure when you're off doing... whatever it is you do."

"Aw!" Comforting went in for noserubs. "That's adorable. Alright. Wish granted. I'll keep an eye out for things that remind me of my Diamond and bring them to her to consider. If she likes them, she can keep them. If not, don't. I don't want you to feel like you have to keep something just because I offered it. Let me know either way, so I can get better at finding things that make you happy."

Diamond giggled nervously a moment but cleared her throat and took a more serious stance. "I heard you, talking to mom. I won't do that. I won't take advantage of you." She lifted a hoof towards Comforting. "I... started off on that hoof, and I'm sorry... But we grew past that. You bring what you want to bring, when you want to. I won't be setting a timer. Now..." She turned in place, coming back to Comforting. "Your turn. What's your language of love?"

Comforting put her hands on her hips. "Well, I'm a filly, if you didn't notice. My language of love is a lot simpler. Ask me how my day went and actually want to hear the answer. Be happy to see me. Give a hug or a kiss. Shared meals and holidays... Yeah, that's most of it." She tapped her fingers together. "Mmm... Oh! If we can go out sometimes, just for fun."

"I'm technically a filly too," noted Diamond with a cocked brow. "Or did you forget?"

Comforting huffed. "It's not my fault ponies don't have more nuanced words for developmental stages!"

Diamond blinked slowly. "That didn't sound like a little foal. You are a creature of mysteries, Comfie."

"Sorry." Comforting coughed into a fist. "Anyway! You're an older filly. I'm a younger filly. I want simple things to make it clear that someone loves me. That's it. If you get me a gift, that'll make me smile, but that isn't my language of love, that's just a nice thing someone did for me, which I appreciate! But it isn't my language. Understand?"

"Sure, yeah." She reached up to fidget with her tiara a moment. "So..." She stepped forward and nuzzled Comforting's belly, an easy target at their respective heights. "What if I just say I'm happy to cuddle my new girlfriend?"

Comforting giggled, grabbing Diamond by her round equine cheeks. "I'd get happy and snuggle back." She ruffled the top of Diamond, making her tiara bounce. "But not right now. Our moms are talking and knowing that makes me feel a bit odd about heavy cuddle sessions. How about we get a snack and talk while we wait for them to finish?"

So they did that, entering a new stage of their relationship.

---

"Comforting," called Fluttershy at the entrance of her house. "Are you here?"

Comforting leaned out of her room. "Hello!"

Screwball was far less quiet about it, rushing for Fluttershy in a tackling hug. "Mom!"

Fluttershy hugged Screwball gently a moment. "I was hoping to speak with Comforting a little. Go outside and play a little. Have you visited Cracked today?"

Screwball appeared to be about to object, but mentioning Cracked changed their mind. "Good idea!" She zipped off to bother her favorite dog-pony.

Comforting came into the living room. "What's up, mom?"

Fluttershy closed the door gently and went to sit across from Comforting. "On one hoof, you've made it clear that you do understand these things, but on the other... You've acted both ways before. Do you understand exactly what you've agreed to do, with Diamond?"

Comforting spread her hands. "Show her love and adoration? Hug her and tell her nice things for as long as we enjoy it."

Fluttershy inclined her head at her small, maybe ancient, daughter. "And you're happy with that?"

"Very!" Comforting brought her hands together in a soft paff. "She's adorable and she really likes me, so I'm going to try to make her happy. I have no interest in how little foals are made, if you're wondering. Besides, if I wanted one of those, I could make one." With a flick of a hand, she was holding a tiny foal, too young do much but look adorable. She tossed the same infant away, gone before they even hit the ground, such was the lack of concentration put into its existance. "But if I really did that, I'd want to mean it, and for it to last longer than that. Not ready for that."

Fluttershy blinked numbly at the spot the baby pony had been and vanished. "Sometimes... Once in a while, you or Discord remind me how different we are." She cleared her throat. "Sorry... I just want to be sure you're... alright. I know you're an independant pony, and I respect that." She offered a hoof. "But I'm still your mother, and I care."

Comforting rushed into the offered arm, hugging with Fluttershy warmly. "Thank you. It means so much..." Even a little godling enjoyed having a mother. Comforting nuzzled against Fluttershy's cheek. "I'll try not to do anything too stupid, but you're always welcome to give me a poke if I start. I love you so much."

"I love you too." She stepped back and started for the kitchen. "You want to stay here this time?"

"Since you're offering!" Comforting hopped onto the couch. "Only fair to swap turns. Next time, my house!"

"This time, mine," gently agreed Fluttershy in an almost song. "Now, you have shown yourself to be quite resiliant, even in bad situations... So be careful for Diamond. I'm not convinced she knows what she's signed up for. Try to not make her regret it." Sounds of pans and bowls could be heard as Fluttershy prepared for the process of cooking.

"I will. I don't want her hurt." Comforting tossed herself at the arm of the couch, flopped over it. "If I'm going to be her first romantic partner, I'm going to be the best one I can be! No sloppy kisses, but she will be loved. I won't leave room for her to even doubt it. If she learns anything from it, it'll be how it feels to be properly loved. Hopefully, it means she won't put up with not being loved with any future partners."

Fluttershy leaned back out of the kitchen. "You're already planning for it to end?"

"It has to eventually." Comforting shivered. "Ew, that was dark... Um. Probably though? She'll find someone she likes even better, or she'll want a grown pony, which I'm not ready to be, and won't give. I won't be mad if she dumps me. I just want her to learn things before she does, that's all."

"You don't sound like a little foal, right now." New noises, the cooking begun in earnest. Soft smells of the preparing food began to emerge, cooked over the flames. "You sound like an adult, trying to deal with a precious foal without hurting them."

"... yeah..." Comforting rolled a hand only she could see from that angle. "That is how I feel."

Things grew quiet, aside the sounds of cooking. "Mom?"

"Hm?"

"Are you upset you have such strange kids?" Comforting flopped over to her back. "Neither of us are very normal by any way you measure it."

"That's not true." A pan slapped the top of the stove. "Screwball may be energetic, and floaty, but she is still a little filly with little filly thoughts and drives and she needs love. She gives it too. Such a sweet child, I have no complaints about her."

"But I'm not."

Things became quiet a moment. Fluttershy emerged from the kitchen, bringing a plate to the table Comforting was seated in front of. "You are not that, not all the time. You are sometimes a foal, and sometimes not. But you are always loving. Never have I doubted for even a moment that you love me, completely and from the middle on to the tips of your toes."

She waved a wing at the plate. "And, right now, it's time for dinner, with family." She smiled gently. "Family that I love very much." She folded a wing to her mouth and blew into it with a sharp whistle. Screwball came zipping in a moment later. "Let's all sit down, together, and enjoy some food."

"Yay!" Screwball, unburdened by such heavy thoughts in the room, floated over the table, reaching for the food but unable to reach it.

Comforting giggled, raising a plate of a serving into Screwball's reach. "There ya go." Sometimes, everyone needed a little hand.

Author's Note:

They're a thing now! Comforting and Fluttershy have serious thunks though.

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Comments

[Prettypony]

Very nice. Comforting might want to be a filly for several of DT's lifetimes before she's ready to 'grow up'. DT might not know it now, but if that ever comes to pass the Comforting and I think it might, I doubt it'll be a bad breakup.

[Poparakelis]

Someday this will give me diabetes

[David Silver]

11701726
Or she may decide to go mare tomorrow. It's hard, predicting chaos spirits. We can only hope she'd do it kindly.

[Amethyst Dragonfly]

"I will. I don't want her hurt." Comforting tossed herself at the arm of the couch, flopped over it. "If I'm going to be her first romantic partner, I'm going to be the best one I can be! No sloppy kisses, but she will be loved. I won't leave room for her to even doubt it. If she learns anything form it, it'll be how it feels to be properly loved. Hopefully, it means she won't put up with not being loved with any future partners."

Should be
anything from it

[Amethyst Dragonfly]

Comforting is acting both older and younger than Diamond at the same time. At least for right now.

She has a very responsible outlook on her new relationship.

[David Silver]

11701790
Fixed.

[Quirky View]

Comforting, you silly goose, you're a healthy human lifespan + a couple years at most. You're not ancient, yet :P

[Twinkie Sprinkle]

It's really cute for Comforting and Diamond to be finally getting together, though they're both emotionally complicated in their own ways, which of course makes the relationship complicated.

It was good that Comforting talked with her mother about the new relationship, even if Comforting being a god who makes things(and technically people) out of thin air is something Fluttershy, and to some extent, Comforting herself, are still getting used to.

Looking forward to more.

[David Silver]

11702222
Comforting, and Discord, are quantum noise, given a personality. I only just thought of that. Things can form from such noise. Good luck predicting. In theory, about anything could take shape. In theory, eventually, much anything could emerge. They just hurry that process along, a lot.