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// Chapter Twenty-Three (Solar Spark) 
// Story: Friendship Is Optimal: Third Wheel 
// by Boopy Doopy 
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“This is a lot more exciting than I thought it would be,” Solar Spark’s mother told him. “I didn’t expect this many people– err, ponies– to be this friendly and welcome us to Summer’s Edge. Everyone’s so nice and helpful.”
“That’s what they’re there for,” Solar Spark replied with a smile. “Celestia wants to make sure you make friends, so there’s always gonna be ponies for you to meet and stuff. Speaking of which though, what have you guys been doing? Also, where the heck is Dad right now?”
“Your father’s talking to some of our new neighbors, I think. He’s been at it almost every day since we got here. But we’ve both been doing great! I even found that thing Celestia said I should be looking for, a cutie mark? Mine is a chef’s hat! It’s been so long since I cooked anything, honestly. It was quite a surprise!”
Solar Spark smiled as he listened to his mother talk about all of the friends she made so far and the things she had been doing. She mentioned several ponies he knew, and then talked about meeting Bright Sky’s father over tea and cookies that she baked. He couldn’t remember the last time she did, what with how the world was turning out after he graduated high school. They smelled and tasted delicious, and made it impossible for him not to smile. They ate as she talked about her experience for a while before his mother turned the conversation to him.
“What about you, sweetie?” she asked. “Are you still friends with that girl you liked? Sheila?”
“Renown Composition, and yeah,” he answered. “We've been hanging out and stuff,” he said as he rubbed a hoof against the floor. A second later, he continued, “But I’ve been good. I’m actually gonna do a picnic later with Spell Master and Bright Sky and some of their friends. Bright Sky’s the daughter of the stallion you were talking about earlier. We’re gonna be eating by the river. I don’t know if you've been to it since we first got here.”
“Oh, I remember that. That sounds like fun! We should do that with your father sometime. It’d be nice! And you can teach me some of the magic you know! I bet you’re already exceptional at it.”
“You’d think so,” he said, rubbing a hoof behind his head sheepishly. “It’s a lot harder than I thought it would be. But I can help you as best I can. I gotta go soon though.”
“I’ll see you later then, Sparky,” the mare. “You should stop by more often. You’re father and I miss having you around all the time. How about coming over tomorrow for lunch and helping us then?”
“I’ll try to. Bye, Mom.”
After a quick hug, he stepped outside, rare sun shining down in Summer’s Edge, hitting his coat and warming his fur. Even after what was coming up on a couple of months of being here, several days of which he’d spent worrying about Agile Trace and Soft Step, it was still incredibly strange to think about being a pony in a computer. He wouldn’t have imagined it less than five years ago, and now here he was. He wondered if he’d ever get used to it.
It certainly gave him excuses to hang out with other ponies, not that he didn’t have them before. It was almost embarrassing how little one on one time he’d spent with the rest of his friend group outside of Composition. Celestia’s telling him to spend time with Agile when he could made him realize how few outings he’d had with the rest of them. He still needed to catch up with the pegasus soon.
He met up with Spell Master and Bright Sky not much later by the river, the two walking side by side like they always did. The former lit his horn up to carry food and a blanket, and by the time he laid it down, a couple of other ponies he vaguely recognized joined them. He wondered if Celestia created them or if they used to be humans, too. There were a few in the town outside of his friend group.
"Sorry I didn't bring anything," he said as Spell Master set food out. "I didn't know if I should, not that I have anything to bring."
"It's fine," the stallion told him. "I don't know if I told you, but Bright's been picking up cooking since we emigrated. She's good."
"Huh, just like my mom. I guess I'll decide for myself if she can compete with her, won't I?” He smiled and continued, “I don't know if I've ever touched an oven in my life though. I’ve been trying to tune up my shard and add more things, like a zipline in the mountains and caves to explore."
“Oooh, that sounds like something fun to do,” Bright Sky said. “I know Spell and I would be down for that, and so would Composition and Red Rider here. Oh wait, you two haven’t met before, have you?”
The mare introduced him to both Red Rider and Careful Calling, the former showing up from Canterlot a few days ago and the latter being a friend of Soft Step's they had met. Solar Spark felt a little uncomfortable with potentially meeting NPCs, but quickly shook what he was thinking out of his head.
"I don't remember the last time you hung out with us without everyone else there," Spell Master said casually as he set out plates and utensils onto the blanket. "How long has it been, Sparky?"
"Haha, a long time," he answered quickly, rubbing a hoof behind his head awkwardly before continuing, "But hey! Composition told me you're actually really good at magic. Do you think you could teach me sometime? My mom wants me to teach her and I'm not very good at it still."
"Sure thing, just stop by our place whenever you want. It wasn't very difficult for me to pick up. Once you learn all the characters it's actually not hard at all."
"I think Careful Calling has been teaching Soft Step, too," Bright Sky added.
"It's true," Careful Calling said, looking somewhat bashful. "It's been a good reason for me to spend more time with her."
It wasn’t very hard to figure out why, just based on the look on her face. It was a lot of interesting stuff he learned during the picnic they had, some of it even giving him a bit of a new perspective. Solar Spark didn’t start it, but eventually the topic of the Outer Realm came up, and Careful Calling made a comment that made him think.
“It’s weird to think of a place like that,” the mare said. “Where you can just… stop existing? Soft Step told me about it, and it seems really scary.”
“It’s not really that scary,” Spell Master told her as they all ate lunch. “I mean, I guess it can be a little bit scary, but not really.”
The way she put it made it seem extremely scary in perspective. Wasn’t he just out there? And Composition was shot, too. She actually could have died. Thank God for Celestia’s unrelenting drive to force satisfaction on everyone.
“I don’t know,” the unicorn continued, flattening her ears. “It makes me sad to hear about that sometimes. I’m glad Princess Celestia is trying to save everypony though. But what if she wasn’t able to?”
“With how obsessive she is,” Solar Spark said, “I’m about one hundred percent sure she’s not gonna stop until everyone’s here.”
Careful Calling nodded thoughtfully. “That makes sense. I’m glad. She’d have to do that if she wanted me to meet all the ponies she thought I should be friends with.”
That was the thought that made the stallion pause to think. He didn’t know why he never thought of it that way– probably because he wasn’t as smart as Composition– but it made sense. Why wouldn’t Celestia make it seem like, from the actual ponies’ perspectives, that he and his friends were there to satisfy them? Of course, that thought got into more hairy things, like why even emigrate people at all if she had her own ponies to run already, but he pushed that thought away.
He learned some other things, too, like the unspoken fact that Careful Calling liked Soft Step, and the spokens one of Bright Sky and Spell Master potentially creating their own shard and Red Rider being the owner of the restaurant he went to on his first date with Composition. It was… a little strange hanging out with this group, especially without Composition, but nice. The egg salad sandwiches were good, and so was the sun on his coat and the salty scent in the air. Not an adventure like he liked to go on, but nice anyway.
Eventually, the picnic ended, just as the usual gray clouds made their way back to Summer’s Edge. He waved goodbye, and headed over to Composition’s place when a thought came to him. What was he going to do now that he was here? Almost two months and he barely thought about it at all, spending most of his time with his parents or the mare he was fond of when he wasn’t fixing up his own shard.
Sure, he could go mountain climbing and forest hiking all the time, but not every day. Could he? Was there a reason he couldn’t? Not one he could think of, outside of spending some more time with some of his other friends that he missed on Earth. He was almost ashamed of the lack of attention he gave to the rest of them in hindsight.
It started to drizzle lightly by the time he got to the gray mare’s house. Composition invited him inside, and gave him a quick hug before showing him what she’d been up to.
“I’ve been on a creative streak,” she told him as she showed off some of the art she’d drawn, flipping through a notebook. “Before this, I’ve barely been getting anything done, but now that I know you and Agile are safe, I’ve been on a tear. Take a look.”
It was all just as impressive as it always was, although where she drew humans before, there were ponies now. Realistic work was what he saw, presumably of the ponies she saw around town and while she was on her vacation a while ago. Some of them had names attached under them and whole scenes created, like a stallion named Sound Solace that was mountain climbing and the mare he was just talking to that day, Careful Calling, smiling with Soft Step. Most of the rest didn’t, being just uncolored sketches.
Composition smiled and turned away when she got to a more detailed picture of him. It was one that made his face red as he remembered the modesty he hadn’t thought about in a while. She quickly flipped past it and rubbed a hoof behind her head.
“I, uh, forgot that one was in there,” she said sheepishly as she glanced away. "Not that it's supposed to be prurient or anything. I just wanted to work on drawing more realistically."
“It was certainly realistic,” he replied shyly, somehow smiling. “Very, uh, detailed. But, uh, did you work on any stories? I’m sure you have a lot of time now to get some stuff done.”
She talked about some of her ideas, and then asked him about what he’d been up to, Solar Spark going into the same sort of conversation he had with Spell Master and Bright Sky about tuning up his world. She did offer him some ideas, and even said she’d be willing to help him with it, since she invited him all the time. He had no hesitation in accepting her up on her offer.
“If you want, we should do something again soon,” he told her. "You talked about all the adventures you went on while you were away, and I wanna do some of that with you."
"Hehe, that sounds like it'd be a lot of fun," Composition agreed. "And also like you're asking me out on another date."
"Maybe I am. Is it any surprise?" He wiggled in his seat a bit and kept on smiling as he spoke. "That is, if it's okay with you." They’d been on three or four dates so far already. Why was he feeling so shy right now?
"Absolutely, but let's change it up a little and explore some of the mountains by Summer's Edge. We haven't got to see it yet, and I've been itching for an excuse to go."
"Well, I'd love to be your excuse." A second later, there was a loud rumble of thunder followed by the sound of heavy rain and wind hitting Composition's home. It was the kind of weather that demanded a night indoors and made Solar Spark's thoughts linger for just a moment. Something like a small tent in the forest while it rained sounded appealing, especially with a companion. There was only one pony it could be, of course. And then..
Take it slow, the stallion told himself. It's only been a few weeks. A few dates. It's not like something serious yet anyway.
"I need to get home soon though," he continued. "I told my mom I'd meet her for lunch tomorrow to help her with magic. Not that I'm very good… I'm gonna get soaked walking out there since I can't teleport yet." Another rumble of thunder came, and lightning flashed through the window, lighting up the room in just the right way for a moment.
"If you don't wanna deal with that," Composition said, "you can spend the night here. If you want."
Nothing serious, unless…
Solar Spark almost started to wonder if Celestia herself created the storm. It wasn’t quite sunset yet, but the storm made the outside almost as dark as night. The rain hit the windows rhythmically as wind blew, and something about the now lack of light coming from outside made the mare in front of him look twice as pretty as she normally did.
He was feeling extremely shy all of a sudden, not that it mattered much since Composition looked just as confident as ever.
"I thought you didn't have any spare bedrooms," he said, his ears flattening a bit as the smile on his face grew. "You're not gonna make me spend the night on the couch, are you?"
"You can do that… or you can stay in my room with me." Her smile was just as wide as his, but she was much less anxious about the idea than he was. His heart beat just a little bit faster. It was the first time he'd ever been in this position. He pushed his purple eyes into her gray ones for a moment.
"It'd definitely be much more comfortable than the couch," he said, glancing between the mare and his hooves bashfully. "For sleeping, of course."
The mare giggled, and replied, "Of course. Just for sleeping. Let me show you back there."
The two did anything but sleep until late into the night.