New Endings, Old Starts

by David Silver

169 - Bathing in Diamonds

She did it. She got the hug she was aiming to get. With arms around Diamond and an arm returned, the two were enmeshed in the best possible way. "Good to see you."

"Clearly." Diamond glanced around before she smooched the top of Comforting's head. "I wasn't expecting a visit, so you get two for the price of one."

Silver Spoon snickered, clopping her hooves. "Don't stop just because I'm, like, here."

Comforting released Diamond to zip over to Silver. "Hello there. I don't mean to just leave you hanging."

Silver snorted softly. "Yes, you did. She's your girlfriend." She pointed to Diamond. "And I'm not. I get that."

"But you are a friend." She grabbed for Silver and soon had her in a warm embrace, though it was one sided.

Silver laughed, eyes on Diamond. "She's doing this, not me."

Diamond smirked at the sight of the two. "You think becoming my +1 makes her not your friend? Hug her back, or tell her to stop it. Either way, there's no reason to stand there looking awkward."

Silver Spoon hesitated, then slowly returned Comforting's hug.

"Alright, we're friends I guess," she relented. Silver glanced at Diamond uncertainly as she pulled away. "So, is this gonna be a thing now? You two being all lovey-dovey around me?"

Diamond blushed but rolled her eyes. "Oh please, it's not like we're gonna smooch non-stop in front of you."

She paused, glancing at Comforting. "Um, we won't, right?"

Comforting giggled. "No way! I just wanted to say hi to both my friends."

She floated back over to Diamond happily. "But I'm here to spend time with you today. What should we do?"

Diamond's eyes lit up. "Ooh, there's a new cafe in town I've been wanting to try! We could have a nice lunch date there."

Silver made a show of waving goodbye. "And that's my cue to give you two some space. Have fun lovebirds!"

"You know you're welcome to come too," Comforting offered.

But Silver was already on her way out. "Nah, I'll let you enjoy your romantic outing. See you later! Really, lunch date in the evening..."

The door clicked shut behind the spectacled pony. Diamond sighed in relief. "Finally, some privacy."

She smiled slyly at Comforting. "Now, where were we?" She leaned in for a tender nuzzle.

Comforting caught up with what Silver had said. She was right, it was late afternoon at best. Doing 'lunch' was terribly unlikely, at least that day. "Was that a code?"

"Code?" Diamond perked an ear at Comforting. "Oh, sort of? We weren't being secret. We were making future plans. We'll have lunch. Not today." She waved a hoof with each part of that. "We understood each other. Sorry, I shouldn't assume everypony knows us like we know us. We're BFFs for real... Now." She rest a hoof on Comforting's nose.

"I don't want you to think that puts you two in competition, besides her wanting to watch us enjoy kissy times." She wrinkled her nose. "I swear, she needs to find her own boyfriend. Or girlfriend? I can hardly judge her on that front, considering." She reached for Comforting, rubbing her sides. "I have an exotic girlfriend of my own."

Comforting grabbed either of Diamond's shoulders, squeezing a little. "I have a lovely girlfriend too. It must be going around. So did..." She paused that thought. She had a lot of projects lined up already. She didn't need to add matchmaking for Silver Spoon to that list, even if it sounded like an adorable thing to be doing. "So what did you want to do?"

"This doesn't count?" Diamond rubbed her snout to Comforting's, drawing her closer.

Comforting giggled, returning Diamond's affectionate nuzzle. "Of course cuddles count!"

She gently guided them both to sit comfortably on a cushioned seat. Diamond settled against her side with a contented sigh.

"Mmm this is nice," the pink filly murmured. "Just you and me and nopony else."

Comforting nodded, idly stroking Diamond's soft mane. Simply basking in each other's presence filled her heart with joy.

After a few blissful moments, Comforting spoke up playfully. "Not that I don't love snuggles, but we should do something fun too, like you wanted."

Diamond perked up. "Oh right, duh!" She tapped a hoof to her chin. "Hmm, we could go for a walk in the park? The weather is perfect today."

Comforting smiled brightly. "A walk sounds lovely!"

She helped Diamond to her hooves, giving her one more quick nuzzle. "Lead the way, my dear."

The two set off hoof in hand, diamonds glittering in the sunlight. Though simple, their time together brought deep contentment. With Comforting by her side, Diamond felt like the luckiest pony in Equestria. But that could turn so quickly. Her girlfriend was, by nature, ephemeral. She knew that, in her head. But her heart didn't. The dissonance between the two was making the trip a bit harder. "Comfie."

"Yes?" Comforting leaned against Diamond a little. "What's up?" She looked around the cooling colors of the evening. There was a squirrel, proudly claiming a nut.

"You're... a spirit."

"Sure am." She squeezed with one arm around Diamond.

"Which means you do spirit things." Diamond inclined her head. "And you'll be away sometimes, doing them."

"Yep." Comforting scratched in little fond motions along Diamond's far side. "Sometimes... Just think of me like a special someone that's working."

Diamond perked up. "That... is a good way to put it." She choked a laugh awkwardly. "I'm being foalish... You're a spirit! You could... send me a letter, possibly a hug."

Could she send a hug? "I never even thought of that. Good idea." Comforting dug out a piece of paper. "Let's try."

Diamond watched curiously as Comforting scribbled something on the paper. With a "presto!" the spirit made it vanish in a puff of sparkles.

A moment later, Diamond jumped in surprise as she felt ghostly arms embrace her in a warm hug. She looked around in astonishment but saw nothing.

"Whoa! That felt so real," Diamond exclaimed, rubbing her tingling coat.

Comforting grinned, clearly delighted her experiment had worked. "Spirit mail can't send actual letters. But maybe I can send other sensations!"

Her eyes widened as an idea struck. She hastily wrote another note and sent it flying.

Diamond yelped as something cold and wet touched her nose. "Hey!" She crossed her eyes at her damp snout. "Did you just send me a lick?"

Comforting bounced giddily. "It does work! This is so cool."

She leaned in and gave Diamond a real nuzzle. "Now we can keep in touch no matter what spirit stuff I'm working on."

Diamond returned the nuzzle happily, spirits lifted. Their relationship had its unique challenges, but together they would find ways to overcome them.

"C'mon, let's keep walking," Diamond said, taking Comforting's hand again. "I can't wait to see what other tricks you come up with." She inclined her head. "But, just to check, what about actual letters, that I can reply to?"

Comforting jotted a quick note and tossed it away from Diamond. It bounced off Diamond's head from the far side, as if it had gone off the screen and looped all the way around to find Diamond. Diamond squeaked in surprise, but grabbed the crumpled paper and unfolded it.

Dearest Diamond,

Love you lots!

Thinking of You,
Comforting Shade

Diamond smirked at the words. "Okay, you can send a normal letter, but how do I reply?" She tapped at the paper. "I can't do that thing you just did."

"Easy," sang out comforting. "Just write what you want and throw it the other way. The paper still has my chaos magic all over it, until we forget about it."

"Forget about it?" The workings of chaos magic were a curious thing... "Well..." She curled on herself and pulled out a quill, quickly scratching a little reply. "And..." She hurled it where it had come from, and it was gone. "Huh..." She turned back to Comforting to find her already holding the letter, reading it. "That is freaky."

"Aw." Comforting hugged the letter warmly. "Looks like we're on the same page." She casually tossed the paper over her shoulder and it was gone a moment later, purpose complete. "This is great. We can trade hugs, kisses, and letters. That's way more than other ponies get when they're away."

"I can't argue that." Diamond rubbed where the phantom lick had been. "Crazy, but kind of nice..."

Comforting smiled, happy to have found ways for them to stay close even when apart. Though a thought nagged at her.

"There's just one thing," she began slowly. "I don't want you to feel like you constantly have to reply whenever I send spirit mail. You should focus on your own life too!"

She took Diamond's hoof gently. "I want to share our experiences, but not distract from them. Does that make sense?"

Diamond nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, that's really thoughtful of you."

She bumped Comforting playfully. "But you better send me at least one sappy love note a day!"

They both laughed before settling into a comfortable silence as they walked.

After a minute, Diamond spoke up again. "It's nice, figuring this stuff out together. We don't know what the future holds, but...I'm happy right now."

She smiled softly. "Even with all the chaos in your life, you help keep me grounded. So thank you for that."

Comforting's heart swelled at her words. "Aw, you do the same for me."

Their steps fell into sync as the path wound onward. For now, both were simply grateful to be present in the moment together, come what may.

---

Almost literally glowing, Comforting darted to the dormitory of the school. Seeing her girlfriend had been great, but she had some business to tend to. Were they even there? She knocked on the door even as she opened it. "Anycreature home?"

Yona turned in place ponderously. "What timing." She nodded at the spirit. "We talking."

Gallus fired fingerguns. "About that mission you gave us. Still kinda freaky, by the way. Not the first mission a spirit gave us... That not-Twilight gave us a test or two. We just didn't expect one from you."

Ocellus shook her head. "Not that we're mad. Saving a creature in trouble sounds like a good thing to do."

Silverstream was bouncing in place with boundless energy. "The hard part is just figuring out where to start! Maybe a big bone?" The others looked at her. "What? Dogs like bones. Why wouldn't that help?"

Smolder snickered. "Yeah... no. Love the energy, but no." She pushed off the wall and stalked towards Comforting. "We need to know where to look first. Got a clue for us?"

She couldn't just say the answer... But... Even Amity had at least said where to start. Surely that wasn't cheating. She reached out and pulled out a map of the world, even beyond Equestria. It twirled slowly, being a round globe in the air rather than a flat sheet of paper. "We are... Here." She tapped at their starting location, the globe stopping with the pressure of her finger.

The students gathered around the hovering globe, watching intently as Comforting indicated their location.

"Okay, we're here in Equestria," Sandbar said. "But where is this Lily ponywolf you want us to help?"

Comforting pondered how to provide a clue without giving away too much. She focused and summoned a faint magical aura around a distant mountain range halfway across the globe.

"Somewhere...in this general region, there are answers about the magic imprisoning Lily," she hinted cryptically.

Her friends peered at the mist-shrouded peaks. Gallus scratched his feathery head. "That's still a lot of ground to cover. Can you narrow it down any more for us?"

Comforting shook her head apologetically. "I wish I could say more, but you'll have to take it from here. All I can offer is a ride to get you started."

The students exchanged determined nods, buoyed by even this small lead. "We'll figure it out from there," Ocellus declared. "Just get us to those mountains and we'll handle the rest!"

Comforting smiled proudly at their resolve. With a wave of her hand, a swirling portal opened before them.

"Your chariot awaits!" She gestured grandly at the mystical doorway. "Good luck, Young Six. Something tells me you're going to help a lot of creatures with this quest."

Full of anticipation, the group stepped through the portal with Comforting. Though the path was uncertain, together they would light the way forward.

Author's Note:

Diamond time!

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Comments

[Amethyst Dragonfly]

Comforting and Diamond are so sweet together.

Comforting is finding out that it can be difficult to judge how much help she's allowed to give anyone acting as an agent for her.

[Theresa hall]

She can always send cracke with them since she not a spirt and could point them in the right direction.

[redmar]

11738512
My thouhgts exactly since Cracked found Lily in the first place.

[Poparakelis]

What a cute couple

[Twinkie Sprinkle]

Comforting sending Diamond different sensations through spirit mail was really cute and interesting.

Looking forward to seeing how the Young Six's rescue mission goes.