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// I'll Stick Around 
// Story: Friendship Is Optimal: Changing Tides 
// by Boopy Doopy 
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It wasn’t until Celestia finally left Candle Light alone in her new home that the weight of exactly what was happening– or more accurately, what had happened– started to settle upon her.
It was already feeling like decades since she’d been a human, but according to Celestia, it had been less than two days. Less than two days ago, Candle Light was on Earth, dying of cancer, and now she was in an online game as a horse girl. It was an incredibly strange thought, almost disorienting. This was like something out of a science fiction movie, except real. How could this be real?
She didn’t know, but she was absolutely grateful for it. She heard on the news that this was going to turn into a mass genocide program or a suicide cult at Celestia’s hands since they let people ‘emigrate’ to Equestria for enough money in Japan. Of course, the news that she got mostly came from the TV in the hospital room she’d grown accustomed to, but still. She was fairly certain at the time that nothing like this was possible. And now here she was. If she didn’t have to be a pony, this would be perfect.
But even that was a small complaint. Her new body didn’t feel that bad, in either the species or sex department. Everything moved naturally, and she wasn’t in a hospital bed dying in pain anymore, so those things were good. Although she was naked, something she was only just now noticing somehow. She hoped there were clothes in this house, because going out without any would not be ideal.
Her search turned up almost what she expected. A closet near the bedroom on the ground floor had clothes in it; there were many different types and styles. Button up shirts and ties, skirts and hair bows, hats and socks– but nothing like bottoms that she could see. Nothing at all to improve modesty. The closest things she saw were a few dresses near the back of the closet and some lingerie. Not ideal.
The bedroom next to it was nice though. Impressive, actually. There was a master bed along one wall, and a shelf of books about all kinds lining another. Dressers and a desk with an electric lamp sat along a third wall, and the fourth was almost entirely made of glass, showing the same view of the ocean that Celestia said could be seen from her backyard. Candle Light found herself envious of the view until she remembered that the princess had just given her this home. Did this count as her home though if she was in a computer? Was any of this actually real?
She didn’t know, and decided not to think about it too hard. Instead, she turned to the mirror to get a good look at herself now. Strange was the best way to describe how she felt about what she saw. It was still exactly as Celestia had picked out and insisted she give a try. A unicorn mare, one that was a bit pudgy like she used to be before cancer had turned her into a stick figure. She didn’t know how she could tell, but she didn’t think she looked like she was in her forties anymore. She seemed closer to a girl in her early twenties now, probably about twenty two. That was somewhere around the age she had her first child, Daphne.
She had a pink coat– no, it was actually pastel red– and a mane and tail that could be best described as periwinkle. Her mane was long, long enough to go past her shoulders. It started off straight, and ended in curls, ones that almost started to twist back up into the air when they touched her shoulders. Her tail was the same way; it was long and ended in a single curl. Both contained highlights, with streaks of lavender and subtle blues running through both and complimenting the overall periwinkle color.
She tilted her head and stared into the emerald green eyes reflected back at her in the mirror, ones that were a departure from the blue she had as a human. It felt deeply weird to see, but not bad. She was certainly pretty for a horse, and a pair of glasses might have made the look she had now almost perfect. Nothing about this pony stuck out in her mind as being unsuitable, but that didn’t mean something would never come to mind.
She’d probably change herself later once she thought about what she wanted. Certainly she’d be a stallion once she had time to consider how to build him. She couldn’t stay a mare if she was going to live here forever. She’d be fine with the novelty of it for now however. Maybe the absence of novelty was why the stallion counterpart to her current body felt like it was lacking.
Once she decided she was done looking herself over, she wandered about the house to check everything out. Just as she expected, there were five bedrooms, one for herself and her wife and each of her kids. Was Celestia planning on turning the rest of her family into ponies? Candle Light wasn’t quite sure about that idea yet. She’d only just gotten here, and still had to be sure this wasn’t some sort of trick, not that she knew how it could be.
She noticed that there were no TVs or computers, or really any technology used for entertainment outside of a CD and a record player, even though there were appliances like stoves and a dishwasher and a currently empty refrigerator. The lack of technological entertainment seemed to be made up for by the presence of books, as well as board games and card games. Minus a TV, it wasn’t very different from the kind of entertainment she might have had when she was a kid. She imagined it was this way to emphasize socializing with other people. Err, ponies.
The backyard made her grin widely when she saw it. The patio stretched out quite a ways, and had multiple tables and a grill for hosting barbecues like she liked to do. There was a built in swimming pool, as well as a swing set and a hammock contained within what looked to be about a quarter acre of area. The sky was gray and the air was cool, green grass gently blowing in the wind as she looked the property over. The ocean couldn’t have been more than a mile or so away, from her estimate. It looked absolutely perfect.
“Okay, this is cool,” she admitted aloud with a large, happy smile on her face. The first chance she got, Candle Light would be inviting friends over to show this place off. That was, once she had some friends to invite over. That meant it was probably time to see the town. 
She found the house she now inhabited sat on top of a hill, with a paved road leading up to it. It wasn’t wide enough for cars, and didn’t have any of the markings she’d see on a regular road, but it kept her hooves from getting dirty. She tried not to think about how she was able to walk without issue despite being a horse now, lest the thought make her trip over her hooves. Could she also move her ears and tail on command, too?
The first sight of people– or ponies rather– made her cheeks warm and brought back to her mind her lack of clothes. It made her feel a little better that none of these ponies had clothes either, but it was still uncomfortable. The ponies here seem not to notice her now slightly red cheeks though, because before she was past the first house down the hill, someone was walking up to and speaking to her.
“Hey there, neighbor!” the pony, a mare like she was, called as she trotted up. Candle Light stared at her hooves, feeling completely flustered as the stranger spoke to her. The mare didn’t seem to either notice or care though, and grabbed one of her hooves in her own to shake. How was shaking hooves even possible?
“My name’s Misty Rose,” she said enthusiastically. “I live in the first house down from you. You must be Candle Light, right? I heard that somepony would be moving into town soon, but I thought it’d be a few more weeks!”
“Wait, you heard about me?” she asked, completely confused. “How? I got here, like, an hour ago! Err, I guess she said it’s been like two days, but still!”
Misty shrugged, but still smiled. “I just heard around town that somepony new named Candle Light would be moving in, so that must be you, right?” 
She was the same height as Candle Light was, and must have been about the same age, because Misty looked like she was actually in her forties. She had a bright blue coat with a dark blue mane and blue eyes. Incredibly boring to look at, and made even more so by her lack of wings or horn. What did Celestia call this type of pony again?
“Are you from Earth?” she asked. “Is that how you know me? Did you used to be a human, too? Or are you an AI?” She didn’t remember much of what she was told about this place before she was uploaded here, but she heard on the news that most of the ponies in this game were AI characters. 
The mare looked completely confused by her question, more confused than Candle Light was expecting. “I– I’m not sure what you mean,” she got back in return. “I’m an earth pony, sure, but I haven’t ever heard of a place called Earth. I’ve lived here in Summer’s Edge all my life. Haven’t heard of anypony from a place called that.”
She didn’t sound like an AI, but how would Candle Light ever know? She guessed that was probably intentional, but still. The thought of talking to a computer program rather than actual people felt a bit strange.
“I don’t understand. You look older than I am,” she said. “And this game hasn’t been out for that long. How could you have lived here for all your life?”
Misty Rose seemed only to get more confused, and tilted her head while sending a weird look to Candle Light. “I don’t know what game you mean, but I’ve definitely lived here all forty seven years I’ve been alive. But, uh, how about I get to showing you around, Candle? Or would you rather just be called Light?”
“I guess it doesn’t matter. Jeff is the best though if you wanna call me something. But, um, do you know anywhere that sells actual clothes?” Even if this was probably just an AI instead of a human being, and even if they were technically animals, it still felt embarrassing to go out like she was in front of everyone.
“Sure do, Candle! Follow me!”
The mare followed behind her, instinctively tucking her tail as she saw more smiling horses waving hello her way. It was absolutely embarrassing, not to mention, a little creepy. But she felt like in just a few minutes, she was already getting used to this. None of them wore clothes or had cars or seemed like they were annoyed or unhappy, but none of them seemed too overbearing with positivity. Like her body, it didn’t seem normal, but the atmosphere of Summer’s Edge certainly felt natural. 
The town looked nice and clean, and seemed to fit in with the surroundings. It seemed like a seaside town out of a place like Maine or Massachusetts. It was small, but not too small. Large enough it was that it had neighborhoods and gridded pathways, but it was small enough that you could tell what the main street of the city was. She wouldn’t have been too surprised if there was only one elementary, middle, and high school in this place, unlike the dozens there were in her hometown.
She appreciated the gray clouds and the salty smell in the air and the little shops she saw. It was quite a change from her previous life living in a city in the desert that served home to hundreds of thousands of people. She wouldn’t have been surprised if Summer’s Edge had less than five thousand. The cool air and the sound of gulls overhead and the perfect overcast sky– she certainly appreciated it. Being a horse girl who lived in a big house in a small, seaside town inside a computer certainly wasn’t the worst thing in the world.
“This is the part of town where everypony does their shopping,” Misty Rose explained as the two walked along, many shops displaying advertising for everything under the sun. Groceries and flowers and toys and music and an art store and everything else that could be thought of. There were restaurants farther down, and off in the distance, if the two walked far enough, was a pier and a boardwalk, the beach dead ahead from there.
“If you just moved in, you probably need a lot of stuff for your house, right? I can help you with carrying it all. Or I’m sure somepony here has a basket or two for you to use. Oh, do you have any money? I can help you with that if you need.”
Okay, maybe the friendliness was a little bit unnatural. “You don’t need to do all that for me,” Candle Light told her. “I mean, I don’t have any money, but I’m sure I can get a job somewhere.” Although didn’t Celestia say Equestria had unlimited resources? Did she really need to get a job if that was the case? Would it burden this pony to take her money?
Apparently not, because she said as much a second later. “It won’t hurt me any, promise,” Misty Rose assured her. “Besides, a pony who just moved in needs it more than I do. Now let’s see if we can get you some stuff. You said clothes, right? I bet you need food, too, and entertainment.”
The mare decided it was probably best to just go with it until she got settled and understood this place more. “Sure,” she shrugged. “Why not?”