63 - Orderly Entropy
"We are not that different."
Discord squinted at his orderly rival. "That's insulting. We have almost nothing in common. In fact, I dare say we're about the opposite."
"Not that different," assured Harmony in her even tones. "We both reflect a change."
"A change?!" Discord waved about at the utter black around them. "You call this change?"
"I don't like it either. I am considering how to address it." Harmony raised a hoof to her chin, Twilight's chin. "I have more rules than you, but we both seek change. I would see it grow. You would shake it and see what falls loose."
"So... make her grow." He waved at Comforting with both hands spread. "Go on, if you like it so much."
"To grow this way, she would dislike it. She may resent me." Harmony inclined her head. "It is a growth she is not ready for."
Discord shrugged at that. "When is anycreature ready for their growth?"
Comforting looked between the two of them. "What are you talking about exactly?"
"You want to be healthy again, don't you?" Discord was suddenly in her face, grinning. "You want to play with your friends and not worry your mother, don't you?"
"Unfair." Harmony frowned for but a moment. "Change has consequences. You will never again be the pony you were this morning. You will die. But you have died before. It will be a brief death. I do not think you are scared of that."
Comforting swallowed thickly, tongue feeling thick in her mouth, which wasn't real? Was any of that real? She was in some other place, speaking with some other beings. None of them were alive, technically. Just a few stray thoughts, sharing ideas. "I do want to play, and not to worry my mother... I messed up. I can't even blame anypony--" She frowned, realizing her ponyism. "Anyone else."
Harmony set a hoof on Comforting's head. "Why do you resist? You are a pony. Speaking like them does not harm you."
Discord was behind Harmony without actually moving, putting a hand on her just as she had with Comforting. "Why do you resist? You're a godling, like me. Change does not harm you."
Harmony swatted at Discord, forcing him to withdraw with laughter. She regained control over herself swiftly, but colored. "You test me. This is a time I need to be fully aware and thinking. Do not distract me further."
"I think you need to be listening, if you ask me, which you should." He raised a brow at Comforting. "Look at her. She has no idea what we're talking about."
Harmony considered Comforting. "Few do, until the change happens."
"Cruel. True... But cruel. Hey, short stack." Comforting looked up at Discord. "Hey, we only talked a few times, but I've been straight with you, haven't I?"
"Yes, sir." She took a step forward, only to stop. Her body was pain. She had one of those. She cracked an eye open. She was laying on a bed. She couldn't make out the details. Agony was sharp and deep, as if everything was broken. As if she were broken.
She blinked, back in the void, looking at Discord. "What was that? Did I wake up?"
"Unfortunately. Now... If we just sit back and wait, there's a good chance you'll slip away, or not. You may recover on your own. Neither of us know for sure... We could just let nature make the call. Sit back, do nothing... What will be, must be, you know the sayings." He rolled a hand as if bored. "And we can talk afterwards, maybe. If you're still here."
Harmony's horn glowed violently. With a toss of her head, she sent Discord flying back as she stormed forward. "I do not want that. I do not want that! I... do not... want that..." A single tear fell from her unblinking eyes. "You look me in the eyes, and you smile. You accept my embrace, and you smile. You know I have complete control, and you cheer my presence. I am God, in your view, and you are happy to be near me. I do not want this..."
Something touched her. Comforting was hugging her tightly from the side, squeezing her just as her cutie mark showed the hooves around the heart. Her heart. She didn't even have one of those... "I don't want you to leave. I don't want you to be hurt." The patron of order and harmony struggled to make the conflicting desires within it make some kind of sense. "You were never part of my plans, but you put yourself there. You tried to help. You did help. You help those around you. You are not part of the plan." Harmony was going in circles in her words and thoughts, shuddering with the conflict. "Not part of the plan..."
Discord was behind the would-be god. "Not everything can be. And it'd be terribly boring if it were."
Comforting stepped back from both. "Can you please tell me exactly what you mean? I should get a say."
"She should." Discord nudged Harmony. "But will she? She's yours. You called dibs. I won't if you're not up for it."
"This is not the plan." They were somewhere. Harmony was a tree, studded with the crystals of the elements. They were in front of the tree. "There is a process." Trees were not supposed to talk. The tree had no mouth, and yet, the words came. "There is an order. Steps. This would violate them all."
Discord shrugged. "Well, I'm not forcing you. We can just let things go their course. That's in the plan, hm?"
"I don't want this," spoke the tree with enough force to shatter itself and the world around itself, void returning. The shards of the trees fell like jigsaw puzzle pieces, reforming the far-staring Twilight form. "I will tell you. I will tell you, and you can decide. If you wish to leave... I will allow it. You asked that I ask you. That I trust you would say yes, but to ask. I am asking."
"I am listening." Comforting glanced at Discord, standing there and looking smugly fascinated. "I will listen until you are done. No interruptions."
"Thank you." Harmony gathered herself up, wings fluttering. "It will have to do. You are on a perilous path. Discoverer of new magic, unlocker of paths. You are blazing a new trail for ponies to be all they can be. You did it by accident. One other pony did this. Do you know Princess Mi Amore Cadenza?" Comforting nodded quickly. "She was the other. None guided her. She went on her own. You are now on your own."
"Not quite true," noted Discord, looking far too smug about the whole thing. "She has us! We count. Two creatures, right here, rooting her on."
Harmony was quiet a moment. "When a pony finds this fresh path, to be all they can be, to make all ponies be what they can be, when their body is destroyed, there is an alternative path opened to them. We could wait, and you may recover, or not. We could wait and let this slip by. Or we can hasten with purpose. We can destroy your form and use it to forge a new body. You would be the youngest, besides the one born in this."
Discord flicked a hand, a crown appearing on it, held by two fingers. "This could be yours, is what she's saying while being super vague about it. Want it?"
Comforting's eyes grew wide. "Me?!" She put both hooves to her chest. "Me?! I'm... just a little pony, even for a little pony. I'm still in school!"
Discord shrugged. "That is not entirely true and you know it. You're an adult where it counts, and before you give me the 'I'm not ready for it!' spiel, I will have you know that zero of the acting princesses were ready for it when it happened. They winged it, all of them. Some of them are still doing it."
Harmony inclined her head. "He is not deceiving you. We can create a new body for you, but it will have wings. Or we can leave you with the one you have, and hope."
Discord shrugged. "Or she could let me have a turn. You'll love my solution." He rubbed his hands together with mischief burning in his eyes quite literally in two cheery flames.
Comforting quickly decided she didn't want to try that answer. "Thank you, but no." She turned back to Harmony, considering her offer instead. "I'm not done with school."
Harmony nodded. "I doubt Twilight would permit you to leave. Your schooling is not complete. Wings will not change that." She considered Comforting. "You would be more squarely in my view. My wishes would echo in you. You are pledging yourself to harmony, the force."
Comforting looked between the two godlings. "I don't want to worry mom." Discord was bobbing along with that. "Or my friends." He nodded even harder. "I'm going to need even more schooling." He nodded hard enough that his head popped free into his waiting hands that continued the bobbing without the help of his neck.
"How much time passed?" Comforting had no way to know. "Did mom get there yet? Can we do this before she... arrives? Spare her even being worried?"
Harmony gazed nowhere, still a moment. "She is on the way. If we do it now, she will be worried, but for a short time. She will be more joyful, likely, when it is complete. Do you wish this? I have asked. You must answer. This is our pact."
"I have a question." Comforting worried her hooves together. They felt smaller than usual. "If you weren't asking me, what would you have done?"
Harmony inclined her head. "But I have asked you."
Discord elbowed her. "It's a theoretical question. Even you get that, hm? Go on. Pretend you didn't have to ask her. What would you do, just in theory."
Harmony managed a little frown. "Ah. Possibilities in possibilities." One could almost see the infinite mirror worlds in her eyes as she scanned through them. "A small chance I would end this. I would end you. Your influence on this world would end, and the plan as I know it would return. The confusion you bring would be terminated. The grand plan could continue." She lifted two hooves close together. "I could do this, but the odds are small and distant. I don't like that idea. I hate that some of me would accept this idea."
Discord shrugged as he popped his head back into place. "Alright, that's gloomy. Now what would you probably do, hm? That's what we both want to hear."
"I would rescue... my friend. My loyal assistant. I would stop her from suffering. I would.... I would break my rules. I would break the world, if it meant I could watch you a moment longer."
Discord set a hand on Harmony's withers. "Yeah... I know that feeling." He smiled a wistful smile. "One day I will have to face that... I'm not looking forward to it, but mine won't accept me breaking the world for her." He tossed his head towards Comforting. "Yours will, if it makes the surrounding ponies happier. Lucky."
Harmony took a slow breath, even if she had no lungs, and no body. There was no air, but she needed to take that slow breath. "Comforting Shade. I need your answer. Time draws close. Your mother approaches. I have asked, my oath almost complete. Tell me what you have decided, and I will obey it. You made me promise this." A new tear dropped luminously to the ground. "Even if it saddens me. Decide. Now."
Discord waggled the crown he still had and pantomimed putting it on his own head, waggling his brows with meaning and a big grin. "It'll be fun," he sang out, tail swishing behind him as he basically danced in place.
It was time to decide.
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Should be
danced in place.
Wow. A cliffhanger.
I know what I would choose. As Discord said, "if it makes the surrounding ponies happier."
Sweet. Personally, I love alicorn OCs.
And she did something to earn it. I mean, I like both approaches, but this one is more rare.
Wait, that's not her name.
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Alicorn OCs that earn it, sure. Alicorn OCs that are alicorns just because, nah.
I personally like the idea of Comforting as an alicorn.
With a closer connection to harmony it would be interesting to see if she could get her to interact with some of the other characters. Twilight meeting harmony would be especially fun.
Eh, give her wings and let's see how deep this rabbit hole goes. :)
No contest... time for another princess....
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Fix!
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Fix!
Should be
Comforting Shade
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I fixed it ahead of you, sneakily.
Her getting wings, might actually get her compatriots to take her a bit more seriously. Then there is the flip side of getting noticed by senpai Celestia. This is not always a good thing...
Although, Gallus will have begrudging respect now though
That's a yes from me.
That's a hell of a twist.
Well, if she does get wings then I do hope she also gets to learn a spell to hide them if needed, as that would be a loooot of attention on her.
He has a point. It's hard to refute that.
I'll say this: She's earned it more than the princess of merchandise.
is there even a real choice there. can harmony just heal her ore does it require her getting wings.
and if so what did she really do to earn it this quick aside being so close buddy's with harmony.
"stop waving around that crown discord, its not my cup of tee personaly"
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Harmony works by The Rules. Snapping her fingers, which she'd need to grow, and making her whole is more of a Discord thing. She isn't that.
I love this, but I am curious, what would've been Discord's solution? Turn her into a draconequus? turn her into the 6-million bit mare?
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Or the princess of national destruction...
Ya know, technically, Comforting taught Harmony a friendship lesson. The whole “ask, trust, respect the answer” thing. That actually is pretty alicorn grade.
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But he may have done any number of other weird and kooky things that had the side effect of healing her or otherwise making her last a bit longer. Ponyverine healing factor, cyborg unicorn, or... *urk* sparkly vampony... 
Yea, don’t go with Discord’s option, Comforting. 
Too predictable.
I don't think she would take the wings
Oh, what glorious chaos three little letters could cause, and ponies will embrace it! Do it. Send it like the Post Mare!
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I'm sure hoping she picks alicornification. Also funny that Bon Bon ended up being completely right that this would lead to an alicorn situation. She just never imagined that her refusal would butterfly-effect that into happening.
I normally hate Alicorn OCs, but in this case I'm really super curious.
I'm not sure if it's too soon, because it only took Twilight 65 episodes. And here we are 63 chapters.
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Harmony works in sometimes very predictable ways.
If you pick wings please show the freakout bon bon will have.
Go for the wings.
But shouldn't this story's commissioner be the one to decide?
let there be alicorn comforting
Comforting would do it to make others happy, and I'm all for it. But both Discord and Harmony should be aware that a compromise needs to be made.
Comforting already hurt herself severely while trying to make someone happy and that's with a little body, and young magic. Giving her a cannon when she overdoes it with a slingshot isn't a good idea... Even if her new body would able to handle it.
Throw a curveball, Draconiquis Comforting! Since Flutters and Discord are basically a couple it makes her their kid even more!!
I'm LOVING the relationship between Comforting and Harmony