New Endings, Old Starts

by David Silver

97 - A World Away

Diamond grabbed Comforting firmly. "Alright, emergency's over, which means we got two things left."

"Two?" She wobbled a little in place, as if to get a better angle around Diamond. "What two?"

Diamond put up one finger. "You are getting a nice ride to a hospital." She put up the other finger. "You're going to spill your secrets to us. We put your fuzzy friend back together, hirrah and good for us. Now reward us."

Silver grabbed Comforting's arm, the one attached to her injured hand. "This is not a long term, like, solution at all. We have to get you patched up, girl."

Cracked frowned at the gabbing girls. "Hold on. Are you leaving me behind?" She snarled with all the proficiency of the wolf she partly was. "Probably safer for you."

Comforting quickly raised the arm not being held. "We're not abandoning you, promise." She sighed softly. "Look." She looked to the teens. "I'm not from around here. I'll take her home, with me. Where I'm from, she'll be odd, but not a monster."

Diamond released Comforting just to resume poking at her. "Well, that just made me more curious. Are you from wherever the other-Twilight's from?"

Silver clapped her hands firmly together. "Ah ha! I knew it!" She extended a hand towards Diamond with a smarmy look.

Diamond slapped down a large bill in that hand harder than required. "Here, ugh..."

Comforting glanced between the two. "What was... your guess?"

Diamond shrugged. "I put that on you being some kind of crazy artifact that took the shape of a little girl." Comforting looked at her oddly. "What? We've heard of stranger things..." She hiked a thumb at Cracked. "Oh look, there's one now. Alright, so, get you to a hospital, come back with few burgers for our new friend. Sound like a plan?"

Cracked folded her arms under her chest. "I like the part where you bring me food. Fine. Take care of her, then feed me. Now that I'm connected, I'm getting hungry. Lucky for you, I'm not an unthinking monster. If you're going to get me a snack... do that."

Diamond nudged her friends towards the stairs. "You wait here. We'll be back with a treat or two." She hurried them to the door... which had no handle. "Cracked!"

"Sorry." She descended the stairs faster than she had been lumbering around while broken. Her big pawfeet still made thuds and clicks, her monstrous nature not really hidden. "I put it..." She found the knob without too much trouble, hidden a little behind the sofa. "In we go." She shoved it into the hole and gave it a testing turn. They could all hear the latch clicking. "There. Now come back! I'm trusting you, like an idiot..."

Comforting hugged the leg of the vicious monster. She was still a resident of that world. She had plenty of leg to hug. "Thank you. We'll get you something to eat."

Cracked plopped a human hand on Comforting's head, gently rubbing. "You're a good kid. Maybe too good. Go on."

They emerged into the light of day, blinding them a moment. Silver reached for the sky. "We're out!" She fished out her phone, making a quick call. "Yeah, all done, but can we make a detour? Uh huh... Yeah, the hospital." She flinched. "No! I'm fine! It's for a friend of mine." She tucked the phone away. "I just scared my poor driver to death. Good to know he cares. Like, didn't mean to spook him."

That reminded Comforting to dig out her own and turn off its flashlight. While she had it out, she pulled up Sunset and got to texting, a little slower with one of her thumbs out of commision.

Hi! I got in an adventure. I'm alright, minus a little cut

She glanced to her crude bandage. Well, no reason to spook Sunset.

I'm with Diamond and Silver right now. I'll be home later. Hugs and kisses!

With the little swirly indicator of the message being sent, she stuffed the phone away. "Where to?"

"Here he is." Silver skipped to the roadside as a familiar nice car pulled up. "Want a ride, Diamond?"

All three of them hopped into the back seat together. The driver looked up in the rearview mirror. "Are you sure you're alright?" asked the concerned driver.

Silver grabbed Comforting's arm and wrenched the injured hand into view. "This is, like, what need the hospital."

"Oh dear." The car pulled forward smoothly but powerfully. "We're on the way." He said nothing else, concentrating on getting them to the hospital.

Diamond Tiara pulled her buckle into place. "Woah, this is a little... intense."

Silver joined her, reaching over to get Comforting secured. "He knows when it's an important thing, because he is just the best."

"You're too kind, ma'am." He drew in to a parking spot with the squeak of brakes applied just a bit too hard. "Let's get your friend inside." He unbuckled himself and pressed a button that clicked all their buckles, letting them fall free easily. With a push he emerged and hurried to their side to open the door for them.

Comforting gently warded his offering hand. "I'm alright." Well, she wasn't entirely that, but she could move, and hopped from the car. "Which way?"

Diamond hiked a thumb at the hospital they were next to. "Pretty sure that way."

Inside, They whisked Comforting away. The nurse remaining looked to the driver, the only adult there. "Are you her father?"

"No. I'm just her driver." He waved that off to Silver.

The nurse nodded at Silver Spoon. "Are you related?"

Silver shook her head. "We're friends." She pointed to Diamond and herself. "She'll be alright... right?"

"Undetermined," responded the nurse curtly. "I'm sorry, but if you aren't related in a few specific ways, I can only tell you so much unless she says to do so specifically. I will let you know if it changes, I promise that."

Diamond snapped her fingers. "Damn hippo rules."

---

Inside, they pulled the bandage off, numbed the area and got right to stitching it up tight. "That's a nasty cut," noted the doctor working on her. "You're lucky you didn't..." He paused, perhaps realizing he was talking to a pre-teen girl. "You're very lucky, but you'll be alright."

Comforting thought back to all that gushing blood. "Did I... hit an artery?"

The doctor raised a brow. A mighty specific for such a young girl. "I think you did, a small one. Did one of your friends put pressure on it? Good thinking. Might have saved you from getting a lot more hurt than you did." He tapped gently at her thumb. "It let your body get to work patching things up."

She had clotted? Comforting let out a relieved sigh. "Phew... Um... Thank you." A thought came to her. "How much... will this cost?"

The doctor folded his arms. "You are a very mature little girl. But also silly." He ruffled her hair. "Are you from another country? Here, we don't charge people at the hospital. Being hurt or sick is hard enough. Now, let me finish this so you can go back to playing." He got back to sewing carefully. "You'll want to keep careful with this thumb until it's healed. The stitches will fall right out on their own, so don't worry about that."

Comforting emerged from the back with a lollipop in her mouth for being a good girl. She had a fresh bandage over her thumb with stitches under that. She was treated! "Hi!" She dashed over to Diamond and Silver, spotting them.

Diamond bounced up out of her chair. "There you are!"

Silver came from the other side. "Feeling better now?"

A nurse approached with a smile. "I guess I don't need to announce that part, but are you taking her home?" She was looking to the driver.

Diamond cut in between them. "We'll get her where she belongs. She's visiting from out of town."

"Ah. I hope she doesn't get hurt again. Hardly a way to spend a visit." Still, her question had an answer, and she wandered off to other business.

The driver waved the girls towards the exit. "Ma'am, you should return home. Your parents will be concerned."

Silver sighed dramatically. "Yeah yeah... I guess I should. Let's drop them off, then you can take me away."

"Very good." He considered just a moment. "We're closer to Comforting's place of residence." And so, an order was determined.

Diamond thumped in next to Comforting. "No more excuses. Out with it! C'mon, I literally bled for you!"

Comforting waited until they were at least buckled into the car. "Alright, do you know anything about Equestria?" Their confused looks was a hint. "You said 'where Twilight's from?'"

Silver nodded quickly. "The other Twilight. Our Twilight's from here, and a nerd. There's another Twilight! She saved us when Sunset was... Um, anyway, yeah, other Twilight!"

Comforting giggled at that. "The other Twilight's a nerd too. I bet they're both great. She's from another... world? Dimension? Reality? Whatever you want to call it. I'm from there." She laughed nervously. "Sorry if that bothers."

Diamond hiked a brow. "I'm only bothered trying to figure out why a girl from another everything would even care about our school. It does explain why you don't know history...but also why would you want to know our history? It's boring for me and at least it's my history!"

Silver snickered softly. "She has a point." She hiked a brief thumb at Diamond. "Are you just doing it to hang out?"

Comforting blinked. "Huh... That's not entirely off. I don't want to hang out at Sunset's house all day. That sounds super boring. But I also wanted to be a super regular student and do regular student stuff."

Diamond twirled a hand upwards. "Like figure out the mysteries of the local werewolves?"

Comforting sat up bolt straight. "Stop! We have to get food!"

Silver swatted her forehead. "Wow, so forgot that. Let's get some food. Adding two stops!" With her order given, the car took a turn at the next intersection. "Still, I promise, this is not regular student stuff. I wish school was this interesting on the regular."

Diamond smirked at her friend. "No, you don't."

Silver looked ready to argue, but it settled on her... "Yeah... probably not... Okay, so... What are you?" She leaned in towards Comforting. "Are you a wolf thing too?"

Comforting crossed her arms negatively. "Nope! I've been through a few changes... I was a human, like you, kinda... Then I was a pony, a magical one. Then I was a chaos spirit, and then I was a little girl." She gestured over her current self. "It's been a... busy time. But each step, I've been something wonderful."

Diamond inclined her head at that summary. "What? Are there humans where Other-Twilight comes from?"

"Nope." Comforting considered that, pointer to chin. "My first stop was as far away from there as this place is, I guess, maybe further..." Her humans didn't have cutie marks! "Do you know what reincarnation is?"

"When you die and live again?" All the girls looked towards the front. The driver had answered that.

"Yep," agreed Comforting, recovering from the surprise of the answer's source. "Pretty sure I did that... And I lived again as a pony. It coulda been worse, I promise."

Diamond cringed. "Well, better a pony than nothing at all, if I had to pick between the two." She flexed her fingers. "Wouldn't want to do without these though, and, oh my god, imagine how long they have to shampoo!"

Silver laughed at the mental image. "Making Mane and Tail shampoo, like, super literal... Look, we're getting a fast-food meal for a werewolf kinda lady? At this point, I'm taking you at your word." She punched Comforting in the arm. "In the future, don't go getting cut open! I won't be any happier hoping you reincarnated somewhere nice."

Author's Note:

Cooling down. Lives are not at risk. Secrets are revealed.

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Comments

[Chrome Masquerade]

Diamond put up one finger. "You are getting a nice ride to a hospital." She put up the other finger. "You're going to spill your secrets to us. We put your fuzzy friend back together, hirrah and good for us. Now reward us."

That's three things.

[Amethyst Dragonfly]

i wonder if they can get the order of burgers as super rare?

The nature of Comforting's origin has been revealed to her friends. I am a little surprised that they didn't ask about what a chaos spirit is.

I guess that it's back to school again. Comforting might like a little normality right now.

[uis]

11495824
They have Disquord as teacher

[Morphy]

The doctor folded his arms. "You are a very mature little girl. But also silly." He ruffled her hair. "Are you from another country? Here, we don't charge people at the hospital.

Oh, well, now I know this is a fantasy world.

[geomease]

11496404

I know right? That right there is the most fantastical element of this story with chaos spirits, unicorns, and werewolves.

[Amethyst Dragonfly]

11496359
I don't think that Discord teaches at Canterlot High?

[blitzlego]

11496404
Or Canada if the cartoon I watch is to be believed feel free to correct me

[Quirky View]

11497577
While our system doesn't cover nearly as much as I thought it did (or as it should) stitches are covered. I believe the UK and many other European places are similar or even better.

[Chrome Masquerade]

Diamond snapped her fingers. "Damn hippo rules."

Do you mean Hippocratic?

[David Silver]

11535396
She actually means HIPPA rules about patient confidentiality.

[chibilink]

We put your fuzzy friend back together, hirrah and good for us. Now reward us."