New Endings, Old Starts

by David Silver

36 - Still!

"I do get it." Rainbow did a casual backflip in the air, swooshing about on her trained wings. "I want to practice these bad boys every single day, even when I'm busy with other stuff!" She landed, but her wings remained up and on display. "So... I have an idea."

Comforting inclined her head. Rainbow had never had much interest in her before. Had her example hit home? "What idea? I don't want to cause trouble."

"Trust me, the pony I'm thinking of gets into trouble all the time, and she's good at getting back out again, and she already likes you, so..."

Who?! "Are they a teacher?"

"Nope." Rainbow leaned in. "They do work here though. And they know magic."

Only one pony fit that bill. "Miss Glimmer?" Comforting did not hide the confusion on her face. "She'll tell on me. She already did once, but I deserved that..."

"Which is why I will ask. What's she gonna do, tell on me? And if she says yes, then she's in on it and won't tell 'cause she'd get in trouble. Win-win!" Rainbow soared in close over Comforting's head in a zooming dart, leaving a trail of rainbows behind. "And she knows what it's like to feel as if you're sitting on your talent. I bet she'll jump all over this."

Rainbow pointed to the door. "As for now, you should get moving. If you don't do the student thing, ponies will get mad, Twilight to start, but other than that... Leave it to me." She thrust her chest forward and rose to her full height. "I'm on the case."

Comforting took an uncertain step, ear closer to Rainbow flicking. "Are you... sure?"

"Sure as I can be." Rainbow shooed Comforting with both forehooves. "Go on. You got a busy day already."

Comforting broke into an energetic trot. She was already behind schedule in her class migrations, but not terminally so. "Thanks for being awesome!"

Rainbow sat back with a smug grin. "That's my job, bringing the awesome." She pumped a hoof in the air and lifted to move on her capable wings. "Now to keep my promises."

---

Celestia's eyes wandered left and right as she took in the letters of the scroll.

Dear Princess Celestia,

It's been a while since last I wrote to you, and do apologize for that. I wanted to ask about that filly you brought, Comforting Shade? Did you have plans for her? She's well on the way, proving she is a gifted unicorn by every measure I can hope to measure her by. She's learned two spells, one of moderate difficulty! I hadn't managed that until I was well into adulthood...

Look at me, being jealous of a filly. Nevermind that. I'm very proud of her, and myself a little. I taught her. She gobbles up spells without an issue. She has no talent in making up new spells, or combining them, as Starlight does with such ease. That doesn't change the fact that she picked up a moderate spell in a few weeks. That took me moons!

Calming down... This isn't about me. As I said, her talent is singular. Oh! There is one other thing. It doesn't help her cast any better, or different, but she can 'see' magic. She can see the glow of a unicorn's horn even when they aren't trying to glow, if they're using magic. The distinct notes change the appearance subtly. Related to that, she has no talent in detecting the magic notes being used without this sense, but if you can see it, is it a real hinderance?

I'm getting off topic. She is an eager friendship student. She's already made quite a number, and I'm quite proud of her progress, but she clearly is enamored with magic. I don't want to overwhelm her, as has been warned, with the work of two student lives at once. She can't be a friendship student and a magic student at once, can she? Not without health risks, both mental and physical, I feel.

So I'm reaching out to see if you had any plans. If you do, I won't stand in your way, of course.

Your Faithful Student(graduated),
Twilight Sparkle

Celestia let the paper drift lower as she sipped from her tea. "Hm." She still didn't exactly remember delivering that filly, aside from the fading dream. But she had done it. Some amount... "I can't ignore it..." She set the scroll next to her cake platter and grabbed a fresh sheet of paper and a new quill.

Dear Twilight Sparkle,

I've missed your letters a great deal and am happy to see they may yet resume. It sounds like you and Comforting are getting along well, even with your concerns. Dealing with a bright young magician can be quite a challenge, but allowing them to get ahead of themselves is also a risky tactic.

Not that cutting them off entirely is the best course of action. If they are a bright student, which you imply, then it's up to you to challenge that energy properly towards their growth. If I may suggest, perhaps start with small things? Have they shown an affinity for a specific kind of magic? That is very common, as you well know. Minuette delighted in time-based sorceries, for instance, and Lyra's grasp of musical magics is difficult to argue. See if you can't find where they are drawn and focus on that. Mistakes may come slower when she's put in front of something that comes naturally to her.

We can't all be you, Twilight. Our talents are not magic as a whole.

Relatedly, I did not have specific plans for Comforting, though you've made me quite curious. Would you mind if I paid a visit?

Happy to Reply,
Princess Celestia

Celestia rolled up the scroll closed and, with a bit of magic, she sent it away in a twinkle with the aim of one small dragon. "Better than any postal pony." Not to besmirch them, they did good work. But it was hard to complete with a personal mail dragon.

She nibbled softly on a biscuit as she rose. "Work to do." As fun as it was to correspond with Twilight, she remained a princess of the land, and that land had need of her. "Next on the schedule?"

"One o clock with the Duke of the Dalmins." Her favorite secretary was right there, following her. Miss Inkwell always knew what came next. "About a patent dispute?"

"Hm... My little ponies are becoming more clever..." Which meant sometimes a little dispute or two over those inventions with the neighbors. "Let's clear that up."

Celestia walked in no specific hurry, or slowly. The royal march was quite intentional in its speed.

---

"Ooo." Comforting clapped with a burst of excitement, though it faded quickly. "I should not be that excited..." She was on the schedule. She'd help clean things up in the morning. It was work, without any specific benefit, other than a clean school. That was still a benefit, right? "Still, it was my idea..." She had no room to complain about it, she figured. "Now where's Clean Sweep?" She slapped her hoof on his name on the board and followed it along to the day Comforting was assigned.

There was no Clean Sweep there. He wasn't on duty that day. "Aw."

But there was a Yona! "Ooo." Yona time was usually good time. "Hey!" She waved excitedly at the others. The Young Six were nearby, chatting among themselves. "Yona! We're cleaning buddies!"

"Hm?" Yona tromped over to have a look and confirm. "Ah, yes. We clean good." She offered a big hoof just long enough for Comforting's smaller hoof to hit it. "Good job. Get all signatures."

"About that..." Comforting laughed awkwardly as she shuffled in place. "Twilight took what I got and did it anyway. I wasn't even done!"

Yona inclined her head slowly left. "Huh... Even better job. Get done without finish. Nice trick." She patted Comforting gently, but she had Comforting petting rights, and no sour looks came from it. "We clean good, best of all teams!"

"Yeah!" Comforting grabbed her large friend in a firm hug. "Together. Oh, wait, the team's three. Who's the third?" She craned her neck to see who else had fallen on that day.

Yona let out a blah at seeing who it was. "Cozy Glow? She not like yaks. Doesn't make sense. Yaks best, how not like yaks?!"

"I don't understand either." Comforting giggled softly at her large friend. "You know, yaks aren't the best, right?"

Yona squinted at Comforting. "What mean? Of course Yaks are! Ponies good too, but Yak is best." She thumped a heavy hoof to her chest. "Don't feel bad."

"I don't." Comforting considered how to approach that, but left it alone for the time being. "Maybe I need a yak's perspective."

"How can Yona help?" Yona loomed over Comforting, though she put out no feeling of malice. "Question in class?"

"Outside of class." Comforting looked past Yona and threw her head. "About him."

Yona glanced behind herself. "Smolder? She is she. Silly pony."

"Not Smolder, Gallus," she harshly whispered out. "Him!"

"Oh, yes. He is he. How help?" Yona batted her eyelashes. "We friends, know him well. Know you too!"

"Yes, and I want to cheer him up." Comforting rubbed her hooves in a gleeful plotting. "He's good at hiding it, but I think he's down on the inside. He came from a rough place, and that doesn't just go away. I want to lend a helping hoof without being a creeper about it."

"Creeper?" A word Yona did not know. "What mean?"

"If I just storm up to him and proclaim I'm gonna fix him, that'll make him angry. He's not a puzzle waiting for somecreature to come along and fix, as if it's broken... which he isn't. I want to help... not call him bad for doing his best."

Yona frowned as she sank to her haunches. "Hm. For not yak, you think deep thoughts." She raised a hoof to her chin. "Actually... if honest, deep thoughts not best yak thoughts..." A moment of humility on her part. "So want to help, but not say help, like Pinkie, when visiting Yaks."

Comforting blinked slowly. "Wait... you know about that?!"

Yona returned the confused expression, though no blinks came with it. "You know? How you know? You weren't there. Did Pinkie tell you?"

Comforting realized a bit late that she had set her hoof right into extra-dimensional knowledge. "You knew and you were alright with that?"

"She changed to be more like Yak. We accept her attempt, and her. She is good friend of yaks!" An idea seem to come to her with a bright smile. "Maybe you learn to be more like griffon? Approach Gallus on his level." She directed her hoof at her eyes, then Comforting's eyes. "Maybe he appreciate. Become better friends. Understand. Griffon is not pony. Griffon is not yak. Different. You know what griffon is?" She tapped her head. "Yona does not."

"Well, besides that right there." Comforting peered at the unaware griffon not far from them. "No... I don't know a lot about griffons... I think you might be right though... That's the first part of the problem. I don't know griffons, but I want to fix them. You hated it when Pinkie tried that, didn't you?"

"Not me, other yaks, but yes. Not like when Pinkie try to 'fix' Yaks. We not broken! When she learned, then we get closer." She set a heavy hoof gently on Comforting's head. "Learn griffons, see how not broken, just different. Then can help?"

"Then can help! I mean, then I can lend a hoof." She bounced in place, thumping against the hoof still just above her head. Yona was quite heavy and could resist her jump enough to become a bonk on her head. "Ow, but thank you!" She hugged the same hoof and dashed off with new ideas.

Author's Note:

Several things happened in this chappy, hm?

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Comments

[Moonlight_Mist]

Yaks best? Debatable. Yona best yak? Yes.

[Amethyst Dragonfly]

There are two typos that the quote function won't copy the paragraph that are in.

The first one is in the third paragraph of Twilight's letter to Princess Celestia, in the below sentence.

She can see the glow of a unicorn's horn even when they aren't trying to go, if they're using magic.

It should be "aren't trying to glow,"

The second one is in the second paragraph of Princess Celestia's reply to Twilight, in the below sentence.

Mistakes may come slower when she's put in front of somethign that comes naturally to her.

It should be "front of something that".

[Amethyst Dragonfly]

It will be interesting to see if Rainbow Dash's idea works.

Princess Celestia is going to visit? Um, Comforting is going to expect her to remember "catching" Comforting and bringing her to Fluttershy.

Hmm, do you suppose that there are any books on Griffins and their culture? Because if there are Comforting is going to head stra for them.

[David Silver]

11246464
Fixed!

[Chrome Masquerade]

I like Yona's attitude.

[Twinkie Sprinkle]

Many things did indeed happen in this chapter.

You continue to excel at writing body language, and the way you wrote Discord earlier and Dash here really shows you have a gift for portraying floaters and fliers.

I have a weird feeling Dash might be planning to introduce Comforting to Trixie. But I could also turn out to be completely wrong. XD;

It was an interesting surprise to see Twilight and Celestia writing to each other about Comforting, and to see Lyra and Minuette listed amongst the gifted unicorns.

It was also very nice to see Yona again, as interesting and charming as ever. Not only is there another implication of Comforting's meta knowledge, but a nice callback to Comforting wanting to help Gallus. Yona remembering Pinkie trying to understand the ways of the Yaks and suggesting that Comforting try to understand the ways of the Griffons sounds like very good advice.

[Twinkie Sprinkle]

11245800

Hopefully so.

[David Silver]

11246671
This is a lesson people are still learning RL, idly. Approach people on their level, and don't assume they're a busted thing you can make right by making more like yourself.

[TheLocalCannon]

Celestia rolled up the scroll closed and, with a bit of magic, she sent it away in a twinkle with the aim of one small dragon. "Better than any postal pony." Not to besmirch them, they did good work. But it was hard to complete with a personal mail dragon.

Compete*