33 - Since You Asked.
Comforting smiled at Discord, recovering from his entry. "Hello, Discord."
Discord clasped his mismatched hands together. "Now you remember me. See, we can get along just fine."
"I made friends with another thing like you." Comforting considered the chaotic mash of parts with a personality. "They're going through a lot of your problems."
"Problems?" Discord hiked a brow so high it was off his face. "I don't have any problems!"
Fluttershy moved between the two. "I think, um, she just means they're learning how ponies work too."
"They are pretty strange, aren't they?" Not that this stopped him from being between Fluttershy and Comforting, an arm around either and a hand on either's far shoulder. "But worth the effort. Now, who is this 'other' thing that's like me? There's only room for one spirit of chaos around here! We don't typically get along very well in the long term, it's a thing, I promise."
Comforting tried to imagine two Discords side by side. They'd probably have fun playing tricks and being wacky... for a while... That would run out and the arguments would start... "I can imagine... The one I know isn't a chaos spirit."
"Not a chaos spirit?" He leaned in close to Comforting. "But still like me. Well, the suspense is getting too much! Tell me."
"Just about the opposite." Comforting brought her hooves together. "The other half of the coin. You are chaos, the change that allows for new things and new ways of looking at things. Vital, in moderation, dangerous in excess, but sometimes needed even then, even if we don't like it as much."
Discord crossed his arms, releasing both ponies to take a moment with a smug expression. "Yes, I am quite important. But this other creature?"
"They are order, the, dare I say, harmonious working of what's already there. They have no new ideas, but can imagine everything working together towards a brighter future, but if they were allowed to take charge, everything would freeze up. A complete rut. It'd be just as bad as total chaos, if you think about it. It's only through the balance of the two that we can grow properly."
Discord blehed out his tongue in a dramatic display. "You've become chums with Harmony?! They're such a terminal bore... What do you even see in them?"
"They aren't harmony." Comforting leaned her entire body to the right. "I mean... I think you two together are harmony. Change and order have to work together to make something. You try new things, they make the good things stay around and improve steadily instead of going away the moment you get bored with them. Harmony! Um, they are called Harmony though..."
"Knew it." He blew a raspberry in vindication. "But I do like the way you think." He rubbed her cheek, cupping her face in the same motion to direct Comforting at himself. "I am very important, after all."
"Maybe you could help!" Comforting grinned with a sudden new idea. "I want to visit her, and you two might get along, after you learn more about each other."
"Pass." He drew away from the both of them, floating into the air. "She's a bit of a bore, if you ask me."
Fluttershy put a wing over Comforting. "It would be a nice favor, if you could? A little trip there and back. Have you, oh, you have." She seemed to remember. "You visited the box, when we were trying to open it."
"And she could have just opened it for you." Discord shook his head. "But no! You had to finish your little cutie quests to get that. She's such a slave driver. If I visit, she may think she can give me an odd job, and I won't stand for it!"
Fluttershy smiled slowly. "Even if it was with me?"
Discord's confidence cracked. "Well, um... If it was with you... I guess... I could put up with it..."
Fluttershy nudged Comforting forward with a sweep of the wing already on her daughter. "When you have a moment, please. We'd both appreciate it."
"Well, not today!" He tapped Comforting on the end of her nose. "You have a scroll to nerd out about."
Comforting's eyes went wide. The scroll! She dug it back out with hungry eyes. "Yes, I do! Thank you for reminding me." She dashed off in a scurry back towards home.
Discord nodded slowly. "See, I know foals just fine. So no avoiding me next time! I'm a pro at relaxing, I'll have you know. I have so much experience with it. Why, this one time I chilled out so hard they thought I was just a statue with how chillaxed I was."
Fluttershy giggled airily. "You were just a statue."
"Details, details!" Discord coiled around Fluttershy. "A day spent with you is hardly a boring day. You should know that."
Fluttershy colored with little giggles. "You're too much! Now, I should make sure she's settled in." She started for home at a sedate walk. "You'll be there this week, I hope?"
"Me?" He swam easily in front of her. "Of course! Did you think this brief visit counted? I should think not! I'll be there, and I have a new tea to try, so look forward to that." He vanished with a puff of smoke and a snap of his fingers.
Flutershy advanced, confident that her schedule for the week was settled.
Comforting willed the scroll open in her magic, unfurling it further and further until she got to the header. Transmutations (Non-Living), it read at the top there. Her eyes widened with wonder. "Wow..." The spell that could turn rocks into hats? Even being shown such a spell was such a significant mark of trust. "Wow..." She grabbed the paper, hugging it even if it wasn't capable of returning the affection. "I won't let you down!"
That was a spell she could make so much trouble with. She could be a vicious little terror, and, perhaps, that was exactly why she was being given it. It was a test of sorts. If she started doing improper things with it, still as inexperienced as she was, she could be disciplined, and they'd know what kind of pony she really was. It was a chance to show her true colors to the world. Maybe that was why Twilight had given the scroll to her with no advice. She was free to fly, or fall, on her own. She was being trusted to carve her own path, and, perhaps, the course of that path was just as... "Calm down." She sat back heavily. "Calm down..." She was working herself into a tizzy with the 'what ifs' of the situation. "First step, read!"
She fled to her room and slapped down the scroll. With a thump, she landed belly down in front of the scroll and got to reading eagerly. No matter what, she'd learn that spell, and it would be good!
"Comforting?" Fluttershy poked her nose in through the door Comforting had forgotten to close. "Don't get too sucked in. Today's a relaxing day, don't forget."
Comforting wanted to read! But her mom wasn't trying to bother her. She calmed herself with a slow breath and nodded. She wasn't a filly! Even if she really wanted it, she could be an adult about it. She shoved the scroll off her bed, crumpling to a heap in front of it. "I'll start on it tomorrow. For today, want to hang out?"
"I would be delighted." Fluttershy smiled brightly as she held the door open for Comforting and the two went into the living room to talk and play gently. The day of relaxation would end, well, relaxedly. "Today has been a wonderful day." She nuzzled the top of her child. "I hope you're feeling better. If you ever feel tired in the future, let me know. I know you're a hard working little filly, so don't be shy about that."
"Today was fun!" It had a lot of nothing big, but... that wasn't bad. She could remember she spent a fair few days just... existing. She had forgotten that lesson, the lesson learned with age that sometimes just... being was a fine activity in itself. She had a thousand things to do, but there was a better time for them than 'all of them, at once preferably.' "Thank you for forcing it on me."
Fluttershy giggled behind her mane as a shield. "Most don't say thank you for being forced to do things..."
"You have." Comforting pointed at her mother. "You've been forced out of your shell before, and sometimes had fun afterwards. This is the same, but... the opposite. You pushed me back in the shell and reminded me sometimes that's nice too."
"Hm." Fluttershy seemed to think back on her past experiences. "You're not wrong, Comforting... Sometimes I did have to be drawn out of my safe spaces by my friends... And... I suppose I had to bring you into one. I hope I don't have to do that again. Come to me and we'll spend a nice quiet day whenever you like."
Comforting hopped up strongly enough to land on a chair where she plopped herself with a grin. "Gladly. But I vote next time we go to a new place."
Fluttershy inclined her head at that. "I just realized something."
Comforting blinked at that. "What's that, mom?"
"We are opposites, in a way, um, not to offend you... You are very outgoing, and found a force of nature that was very introverted. I prefer quiet and still, and found a very outgoing and loud force of nature. But this only makes me feel closer to you." She reared up and hugged her seated child. "Our difference only makes us more alike, in this case." Things became quiet as they hugged warmly together, both enjoying the presence of the other with no further questions or statements needed.
Comforting pushed Fluttershy back a little. "I've met yours... You should meet mine. You two would probably get along, I think?" She skewed an ear to the side. "Or not... I like Discord, but I don't get along with him as well as he does with you. You're his specialest pony around!"
Fluttershy colored at the implications. "I would do my best... Um... Maybe when Discord goes, he can take me along too? That might encourage him to go sooner, if I'm involved, so we'd both get what we wanted."
Comforting bounced a little on the chair. "That's a great idea! I can introduce you both to her. She's really nice, just... different. Like Discord, really. I bet he was hard to get along with at first too."
"Oh, yes... at first very much so, but worth the time it took to get it right." Fluttershy glanced around to see if he was hiding, which he could be. "And I gather Harmony is the same way?"
"Yep! But a lot quieter. She probably won't turn your world upside down like Discord can, and will. She.... just wants ponies to get along together. Is that a terrible wish?"
"I should think not." Fluttershy advanced past Comforting on her way into the kitchen. "I'm going to make us something tasty to eat. You wait there and it'll be ready soon."
That was part of the relaxing day, but Comforting decided moving wasn't breaking that. She parked herself by the front window where she could see assorted animals coming and going. Some of them even saw her, watching. When she waved, there was, maybe, a 30% chance they waved back, or otherwise let her know they had seen her. That wasn't a very high chance, but still a higher possibility than she was used to as a human on human-world.
Equestria was not the human world, and that was alright. She had a tasty dinner to eat with her loving mom, there, on the pony world, in Equestria, and she was entirely alright with that situation.
She would face the next day with renewed energy.
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I used my desktop computer fr the first time since March 14 today, and I checked my email (which hadn't synced since March 14) and I saw an update email for a past chapter. Was super psyched and then was sad when I realised it was in the past.
Luckily, I wasn't disappointed for long :D this chapter is so cute! also yes, discord and harmony are harmonious with each other :D
"Oh. Okay."
Give the Draconequus a prize!
Thus we have reached the end of Comforting's Really Good Very Relaxing Day. Any day that she gets to spend with her mom is probably very firmly in the win column for Comforting.
I wonder how Harmony and Discord would get along. Maybe about like hydrazine and nitric acid?
Discord was written perfectly in this chapter, both in that I could read every line perfectly in his voice and that all the body language made it so easy to imagine him moving around with his usual ease in my head.
Fittingly, the chapter is full of little twists and turns. I was especially surprised when he booped Comforting's nose, because I had forgotten about it.
Very nostalgic to get a little callback to the Season 4 boxquest, and it works very well in the overall context of the chapter.
I also found it very interesting that Comforting points out that Harmony, the being, represents Order, but the word "harmony" can also mean a balance of order and chaos. And that because of that, Discord and Harmony(The being), may be halves of a whole.
I also, similarly, thought Comforting and Fluttershy's conversation about becoming friends and family growing close despite differences to be very interesting.
It brings to mind a lot of intriguing questions about false dichotomies, which is oddly nostalgic to me, in a way, since back when the early seasons were still new, I used to wonder if Discord himself was introduced into the show as a way to question false dichotomies.
I also found the way that Comforting thanked her mom for pushing her to relax to be very touching.
...come to think of it, " rocks to hats" does feel a little chaotic.
I guess this is the end of things being comfy for now, but I still look forward to things getting intense again.
11235899
Spike found the demonstration of that to be very chaotic at the end.
11235949
You're right.
I'd totally forgotten that scene from Feeling Pinkie Keen until now. 
Should either be “so much trouble” or “such trouble.”
11236534
Fixed!
Found this the other day and am enjoying the story. Looking forward to reading more.
11238571
Welcome to our journey.