35 - Shared Burdens
Comforting arrived at school to discover the janitor was there, but he was waiting as she had done. "Good morning!" She waved at him as her other three hooves carried her the rest of the way. "Enjoying school?"
"It's new." He half-turned, at least not facing away from her. "But I think ah'm gettin' used to it, at least. Now... This was your idea."
"What was my idea? Does this have to do with why you're out here?" She sat next to him, though facing the school and his side. "Why are you out here?"
"What I'm always out here fer." He swatted at Comforting with his tail. "Ain't that obvious?"
"Cleaning? But you gave that job up." It wasn't making sense to her!
"Oh, hey, that's right. You weren't here the day she told everycreature." He inclined his head a bit. "Give it a second."
The front door of the school opened, allowing Gallus and Smolder free. Smolder jogged up to the gate and opened it up quickly from the inside. "Good morning! Comforting, are you on the schedule?"
"She doesn't even know what this is." He moved through the open gates. "We're cleaning up as a team. This was your idea, remember?"
But she hadn't turned in her paper! She still had it, with the... Oh wait... Rarity had taken it and never given it back. "Oh... I'll help!"
He pushed her back just as she was about to jump through the gate. "We got a schedule. Check it to see when your turn is."
Smolder smirked as she closed the gate, barring the way. "You heard him."
Gallus arrived on the other side of the gate, joining in the smirking rebuke of Comforting. "It's your job to chill out. They haven't even added you to the schedule yet. You can complain if you want. We're not letting you in."
"Nope," agreed Smolder and Clean Sweep together. As a unit, all three headed inside to get to cleaning, without Comforting.
"It was my idea." She giggled at the situation. She had gotten what she wanted in the end. It just didn't go exactly as she had planned it.
"There you are, gosh."
Comforting knew that voice, turning to see Cozy Glow fluttering in along the bridge. "Hi!"
"Hi." Comforting wasn't sure she could or should return the enthusiasm that way. "Are you on the schedule?"
"To muck around? No." Cozy stuck out her tongue as if she disliked the very notion. "Thankfully! You're out here, so not you either, I'm guessing. Good! This is a job for dirty creatures."
Comforting tried to keep the frown off her face. "Clean Sweep is a pony."
"Poor thing. He shouldn't settle for cleaning things."
"Good morning!" Twilight and Rainbow Dash were coming up. "Always nice to see students ready for a new day of learning. Comforting, can I talk to you a moment?"
Comforting tensed. Twilight had been told. The statue incident was fresh on her mind. "Yes, ma'am!"
Twilight unlocked the gate even as Rainbow flew over it. "Go on in, Cozy."
"See you in class." Cozy nodded at each of them and trotted inside at a bouncy gait.
Twilight's magic wrapped around Comforting, hefting her up onto her own back. "Let's chat."
"Are you mad?" asked Comforting in a small voice.
"Mad would be the wrong word." Twilight walked sedately into the building and slipped into the first class. "Worried would be more accurate. You're not in trouble." Comforting deflated with relief on the student's desk they had placed her in. "You did quite well, all things considered... That was just a poor... It was bad timing, but you did about the best you could with the situation."
Twilight sat in front of Comforting, looking down at the filly. "But a few things. One, you've learned how to read and cast spells. That's enough right now. You can practice if you want, and I imagine you do, but you're already advanced, and have plenty on your plate. I won't put anymore there."
Comforting flipped an ear back, eyes darting. "I messed up as a wizard, didn't I?"
"You did not, well, you did, but not in any terminal way." Twilight put two hooves on her own chest. "I'm the one that messed up, Comforting, and it took another pony to make me see that. Your job is to be a student of this school, and that's plenty."
Comforting quickly guessed which pony that might have been... "But... I enjoy learning magic..."
Twilight leaned in, touching nose to nose. "I'm not cutting you off from ever learning magic, just pushing it back a bit. Enjoy being a student, with the challenges that come with it. After you finish that, we can consider the next step. Maybe you could join a magic school."
Comforting perked at that idea. "Like Celestia's School?"
"Like that." Twilight nodded gently. "I can't promise you'll get her as a tutor."
Comforting went a bright red. "I'd never assume! You're a special case, professor."
"And you're not?" Twilight seemed to enjoy Comforting's uncertainty at that point. "I'm joking. It's up to her, not me, in any event. I have... a spotty record when it comes to predicting Princess Celestia."
She flipped through a book slowly. "Then again, she did bring you here. She may already have a vested interest in your progress, so I can't say it's impossible."
Comforting began clapping quickly with a grin. "That would be..." But then she realized and came to a slow stop. "I'm not trying to replace you, professor."
"I didn't think you were." Twilight considered her young student. "It would be an honor to have one of my students rise to that level, and a completing of a circle, that she could train a pony who could in turn send her a student. I'd be flattered! But that's a topic for another day. Today, school; this school." She angled a hoof downwards, though the attached leg was directed upwards, making for a sharp angle. "Are you ready to be a dedicated friendship student?"
"I'll do my best!" Comforting sprang free of her desk with such force the desk tipped over and dragged her with it, the two crashing to the ground. Twilight's magic gently picked up both, setting either on their footing. "Sorry..."
"Don't hurt yourself." Twilight released Comforting to dash off, more successfully that time. "You're still welcome to ask me questions about your horn, just no magic spells."
"I should stop visiting like this."
Comforting jerked upright. She had been listening faithfully to Rainbow Dash go on about... She had lost track and fallen asleep. "Oh."
Another Comforting leaned in from the left, coming into view. "Hello. I am adding to your problems, and that is not fair."
"No!" Comforting pounced Harmony, tackling her to the ground, even if she was sure Harmony could escape at any moment. "Don't run away! I've lost enough today."
"What did you lose?" Harmony was pinned and didn't resist a reversal of fortunes. "You can tell me, if you want."
"I do want." Comforting sat up on her pinned force of nature. "They did my idea to help Clean Sweep without me. I'm glad it was done, but it was a little... It just stung a little. I know it's silly... But then Twilight said no more magic! That really hurt." She pouted down at Harmony, wearing her own face. "So now I'm just a friendship student."
"Is that not enough?"
Comforting hummed softly. "It's not that... But I've lost enough, thank you." She set a hoof on her double's nose and discovered exactly how boopable her own nose was. No wonder ponies did it all the time. "Harmony, I like you a lot. I want to be friends with you. Even if you stop giving me quests, I don't want our friendship to end. Our being buddies is a good thing, not a bad thing."
"Even when I get confused?" Harmony sat up as if Comforting weighed nothing, casually doing so, so the two were sitting in front of each other. "I know I do not understand what you understand, and you do not understand what I understand. That difference must cause some stress."
"That stress I'm alright with." Comforting reared up, hooves curled in front of her, though mostly hanging there. "If you just run away, that'll be way more stressful and I'll be really sad. So don't do that."
"If you are certain." Harmony did not seem as sure on the matter. "You are a pony."
"Yes?" Comforting fell to all fours. "We're way past that argument. I am Comforting Shade, a pony, and your friend."
"You are a pony." Harmony said that in exactly the same way. "A growing pony. You are a point of great mutability. Change is immense within you. I can only predict so much of one of your growth. You could be tall or short. You could become heavy or skinny. Life spread many branches before you."
"And I'll walk down the one I'm on." Comforting walked without actually going anywhere. A path formed under her, carrying her along that path. "I will take care of myself, which will change the path, but the body I have is a gift, and I will treasure it, whatever it becomes."
"Some do not accept that." Harmony smiled gently. "It pleases me, you do. She wants you to pay attention."
"Who--" A hoof was bopping her on the head. Comforting opened her eyes with a squeak, waking up from where she had slumped over her desk. "Sorry!"
"I love a power nap as much as anypony else." Rainbow drifted backwards with a big smirk on her face. "But not in the middle of my class, alright? I'm sharing important stuff!" The class chuckled as she went right back into her lesson, swooping around as she told her dramatic story of bravery against adversity.
When the class was over, Rainbow let the foals go, but darted in a streak in front of Comforting. "Not so fast!"
"Um, hello, professor." Comforting dipped her head at Rainbow, still seated without the chance to finish getting down yet. "How can I help you?"
"That's my question. You're usually paying attention, so what's up?"
What was up? Comforting considered it a quiet moment as the others left. "Well... Alright, you might get it."
"I'll try." Rainbow casually hopped up onto Comforting's desk, looking down at her. "Lay it on me!"
"Well, you wanted to be a Wonderbolt for basically ever... Imagine if the weather ponies, the ones around here, said you could only practice being a Wonderbolt when you retired from being a weather pony?" Comforting grimaced with sympathy for the imagined situation. "You'd be upset, right?"
"Upset? Why... I'd be awful tempted to quit the weather ponies, and then everypony would lose, me included... I take pride in that, in doing a good job." She hopped backwards in a flip off the school desk, landing with a clop. "And until I retired? That's basically forever! Did something like that happen to you? What's your Wonderbolts?"
"My..." Comforting couldn't hold in the giggles at the way that was phrased. "I'm a wizard, and I want to be a better wizard." She wiggled her hooves in hopefully a spell-casting sort of way. "I've learned two spells, but there are so many more to learn. But I was told to put that on hold until I finish being a student here."
Rainbow hissed in a shared feeling. "Ow... Not as long as 'wait until you're retired', even so, I feel that..." She plonked to her haunches. "Alright, now I know which way we're facing. You're tweaked out, and you passed out instead of flipping out. That's... Some ponies do that. Not throwing shade at you or nothing." She lifted on powerful wings. "But waiting for this isn't nearly so bad, really. You'll be a better wizard for it. I know it doesn't feel that way, but I'm a better Wonderbolt for learning how to be a weather pony, and if I got both at the same time, that wouldn't have happened."
Stats
Page generated in 0.027 seconds
Total duration
1,004 users online
2,051,497 hits today, 2,707,512 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Aw, Comforting. :(
Also, at this bit:
You may want to put a horizontal line or a time skip between "You're still welcome to ask me questions about your horn, just no more magic spells." and "I should stop visiting like this." It sounds like someone burst into Twilight's office or something and said "I should stop visiting like this."
11242052
I had meant for it to be a jarring skip for all involved. Failed?
11242055
I wouldn't say failed, just a bit confusing for me. Now that I know what you intended it to be, I can understand it better.
Basically: nice job; ya played yo'self
Cozy Glow makes me feel the same way that Blighttown does.
It is very easy for me to empathize with how Comforting is feeling in this chapter. Losing two things, one of which was your idea in the first place, and the other one being something that you really enjoy doing? Yeah, I'd probably just about have a mini meltdown.
At least she still has Harmony as a friend.
A lot happening this chapter, once again. In hindsight, Comforting really, really needed that relaxation time with her mom to prepare for all this.
Somehow Comforting's sadness in this chapter hit harder than any other time before. Even if, logically, things are working out for the best in the long run, it's easier than ever to feel Comforting's emotions about how things turned out. How her idea happened, but went on without her, and how she'll get to continue learning magic eventually, but not for a good while.
That being said, that was the perfect time for Harmony to return. Comforting and her mysterious friend may not always understand each other, but they can confide in one another in a way that's special.
It was an oddly funny moment when Harmony let Comforting know Dash was waking her up.
I think that maybe part of why Dash seems uncommonly good with foals at times is that foals have to wait for things, much of the time. And Dash knows a whole lot about waiting.
I thought the part where Comforting giggled a bit at "what's your Wonderbolts" was a great bit of levity.
I guess the best way to wrap this up would be that it seems like Comforting has hit a very low valley, but I still look forward to her reaching another hilltop. ~
11242612
It can only get brighter from here.
Right?
Guys?