//------------------------------//
// Wattershed 
// Story: Friendship Is Optimal: Changing Tides 
// by Boopy Doopy 
//------------------------------//

“These are a few of my new friends,” Candle Light explained as she showed her wife the guests in her home. “Soft Step, Careful Calling, and Misty Rose,” she told Stephanie, now Crystal Clear, as she pointed them out to her. “Guys, this is my wife I’ve been telling you about.”
Misty Rose, as Candle Light expected, was the first to go up to the mare and shake her hoof. “Candle here told me all about you,” she said, “and really built you up to be quite the amazing mare. Of course, you’d have to be to attract somepony like her. It’s nice to meet you, finally!”
“Well, I’m glad my husband talked me up to you,” the mare said, wearing a bit of an awkward smile as she rubbed a hoof behind her head. “It’s nice to, uh, meet you, too, though. Thanks.” She looked past Misty Rose at the other two mares, and chuckled slightly at what she saw.
“All girls are who you’re having over though, Jeff?” she asked. “You’re making me jealous.”
“Maybe I’m trying to make you jealous to get you to see me, since I miss you so much,” the unicorn replied as she hugged her again, for only a second or two this time. “My name is Candle Light here, by the way,” she told her. “The two unicorns behind me are Soft Step and Careful Calling. I met the two of them a while ago, and they’ve been helping me with magic.”
“You can actually do magic in there?” she asked. “You can clearly still cook, I see. Wish you were still here in real life so you can cook for us again. It’s been nothing but fishsticks and canned ravioli for the last few days.”
She almost joked about her wife getting cancer, too, to meet her in Equestria, but shuddered before she spoke, the thought much too morbid and terrible for her. Instead, she said, “Maybe there’ll be a way for you guys to all come to Equestria, too, and I can cook every day again. Because let me tell you, these falafels smell good. You should eat dinner with us and meet my friends! Even though you can’t taste it.”
“I’ll get a bowl of ice cream, and it’ll be just like I’m there,” her wife said. 
Candle Light let her wife meet her new friends, and chattered excitedly to them about her. Stephanie– who explained that Celestia named her Crystal Clear– seemed like she was a bit anxious and uncomfortable at first, but quickly relaxed as she listened to Candle Light talk. The unicorn imagined she was apprehensive about Candle Light really being herself, and so intentionally brought up some of the things she remembered from her life. Their honeymoon in Spain and buying their house shortly after that. Candle Light’s mother being weird and a little bit racist about them dating and then adoring Daphne and their other children from the moment they were born. The time they went skiing in California and their son Steven broke his leg and his hand when he decided he could do it without practice. Stories about the two of them were what Candle Light told, and Crystal Clear laughed as she enjoyed the memories. She might have even been a bit teary eyed, too, at points.
After dinner, the rest of her friends understood that she wanted some time alone with Crystal Clear, and so waved goodbye, leaving the two mares to sit on the couch and chat. After a few minutes of asking about their kids, the conversation shifted to Candle Light’s experiences.
“What’s it like there?” she asked. “Is it really you? Because one of your daughters seems insistent that it’s not.”
“I don’t know why Daphne would think that,” Candle Light shook her head, her eyebrow raised slightly. “I feel like me. I guess there’s no way to know if I’m not me, like if I’m a copy of me or something. But I still remember basically everything from being a human. Save for a lot of the… but I was on a lot of morphine the last couple of weeks.”
“Mhm. And you sound like you, too. Like, you’re not a completely different person, even though you said it’s been… what? A few weeks for you? Minus being a horse and a girl.”
“More like a couple of months for me,” she explained. “Coming up on three now, I think.” Then Candle Light smiled sheepishly, continuing, “And I’m only a girl because Celestia turned me into one when I first got here. She basically told me to stay this way until I thought about what kind of stallion to be. I still haven’t figured it out, but I one hundred percent have been waiting for you to show up to help me.” A little pause, and then she finished, “Nothing I can do about being a horse though.”
“I didn’t think so,” Crystal Clear laughed softly. “And I don’t know how good I’d be at designing a pony like the kids would be,” she said. “But I’d definitely want to help! I’m gonna make you the strongest stallion around so you can… fight monsters or whatever you do here.”
“I definitely don’t fight monsters,” Candle Light laughed back, “but I fully expect you to make me a strong stallion. We can see Princess Celestia right now if you want.”
"Maybe soon," her wife said, "but I want to hear about what you've been doing first. Do you have a job and stuff? Obviously you have to if you have a house, but what the heck does a horse do for a job?"
"I don't do anything, actually," Candle Light smiled, maybe a hint of superiority in her tone. "Celestia gave me this house for free, and mails me a check for 500 bits every month. She said Equestria has unlimited resources, so I've been learning magic and reading and talking to other ponies."
"Whoa, this game has a welfare program? I know a lot of people who'd love that."
"Haha, yeah. It feels like a vacation to me, or a long summer break. When I get bored with magic, I'm gonna try writing. Or maybe owning a small restaurant. Celestia said I could do anything here."
"Well, you better find a job because no husband of mine is gonna be a freeloader," Crystal Clear joked lightly. Then she let out a breath, finishing, "But it sounds fantastic. I'm a little jealous, honestly."
"Well if I'm here, maybe one day you and the kids will be here, too," the unicorn suggested. "Then I could show you the spot I go swimming at every morning near Warm Spell's– err, Olivia's and I's– clubhouse at the beach."
“Yeah, maybe,” her wife nodded, although it didn’t sound exactly like a dismissal to Candle Light. The unicorn meant the comment in passing mostly, but it seemed more like a genuine consideration to her. Her wife looked around and blinked, asking, “And this is all free? Really? Do you just get whatever you want whenever you want it?”
“I guess I can, but I don’t know,” Candle Light told her. “I never actually asked Celestia for anything. But she did say this house was free, and said Equestria has unlimited resources. I guess that makes sense since this is all technically a computer simulation.”
“It’s weird to think that my husband lives in a computer,” Crystal Clear said as she got up and looked around some more, exploring the house. “Where’s our bedroom gonna be?”
“That’s the one down here, I’ll show you,” Candle Light smiled as she got up and led her to it. “It’s a little smaller than the one we had in the Outer Realm, but that makes it cozier, I think. And the kids are gonna be upstairs. I already have their rooms all picked out.”
“I wanna see them,” her wife said excitedly. “I’m glad though you saved the best for us. I definitely wouldn’t complain about living here, as long as there aren’t any ponies throwing rocks at the glass outside of this room. But what do you mean the ‘Outer Realm’?”
“Oh, that’s just what ponies here call Earth,” the unicorn explained. “But let me show you up there. Actually, first, you have to see the backyard.”
Candle Light talked excitedly as she showed the house off to her wife, who particularly enjoyed looking at the backyard. She had the same idea as Candle Light had when she first saw it; she decided that it would be a great place to host barbecues, highlighting it would be especially so if they got stuff for free here. Crystal Clear said she enjoyed the view of the beach, and her face brightened even more when Candle Light told her how it was apparently close to the mountains if they ever wanted to go climbing together.
“Wow, you’re making it seem like getting cancer wasn’t all bad,” she said. “This place seems amazing, outside of you being a horse.”
“Not better than seeing you in real life though,” she smiled. She grabbed Crystal Clear for a kiss, and then dropped her smile once she pulled back. “Can you tell Daphne I wanna talk to her though?” she asked. “Not right now, if she’s feeling bad. But soon, please?”
“Mhm, of course,” she nodded. “I need to talk to her about what she said to Olivia later, about how she told her you’re not real.” Candle Light flinched and glanced away hearing that, and Crystal Clear continued, “But I wanna see the beach and your clubhouse with Olivia. And then I can figure out a good pony for you to be.”
Rather than walk, Candle Light showed off the teleportation spell she was working on, a spell that was now effortless to cast. There wasn’t any swimming they did, but the two strolled along the sand and listened to the crashing waves as birds called overhead. The sky changed from the usual cool overhead clouds to warmer evening sun shining on their coats, and the two stepped along in relative silence for several minutes, taking it all in. It wasn’t anything new for Candle Light, but now, walking next to her wife, the world was once again feeling unreal like it did weeks ago. Was she really a horse living on a computer? It felt impossible to be true, and yet there she was. 
She smiled happily at her wife and tried not to direct too many glances to her flank and tail as they walked along, letting her breath go and taking in the moment. It just felt nice being able to walk next to her wife again after so long. Months, it was, but years it felt like. It was a little bit weird that they were both ponies– from Candle Light’s perspective anyway– but she had a feeling she knew what would happen next if her wife showed up here in real life. It was just hitting her how much she missed her.
Not terribly long later, they were back at the house and calling forth Princess Celestia, her mane blowing on the nonexistent breeze the alicorn always carried. She smiled gently and kindly, just as she’d done the previous times Candle Light saw her. She had a feeling the princess already knew what they were calling her forward for.
“I still don’t know what I want,” the unicorn explained as Celestia stared with a patient look on her face, “but I thought my wife could help me choose, if that’s not a problem.”
“Of course not,” the princess nodded. “I can allow you privacy, if you desire,” she told her. She summoned forward a mirror with the glow of her horn, and explained, “This mirror will let you change your appearance simply by stating it out loud. Once you’ve finalized the pony you wish to be, just say, ‘finalized’, and the mirror will disappear. Of course, if you still need time to decide on your appearance, you can just say ‘revert’ and you’ll be fixed back to your current form.”
“Whoa, that sounds really cool,” Candle Light smiled. “How come you didn’t give me something like this earlier?”
“Because we were having you try out my choices, remember?” she said gently. “As well, you hadn’t thought about what you might like to be, and so might desire to change again in the near future.” Then she looked over to Crystal Clear and smiled at her, too. “This mirror will work for you, as well, if you’d like. You haven’t given any consideration to what you might like to look like in Equestria, Crystal Clear.”
“I’m fine,” she said, waving a dismissive hoof. “I don’t really care what kind of pony I am. I just wanted to talk to my husband.”
"I understand,” Celestia nodded. “As I've explained to Candle Light, while changing your appearance on short timescales is not a service I traditionally offer, I will allow you to make one change in the near future if you decide a different form would suit you better. It’s important to find a form that you feel best suits yourself.”
The princess didn’t stay much longer than that, offering to keep the two company while Candle Light made her choices and quickly disappearing when they declined her presence. Then Crystal Clear smiled at Candle Light and made the obvious first suggestion.
“If you can change into whatever you want– err, whatever kind of horse you want, anyway– that means you can be the most muscular man out there if you wanna be. Set an olympic record for weightlifting or something. If they even have the Olympics here.”
Candle Light laughed at that. “I’m okay with being pudgy,” she said. “The last time I looked like a toothpick wasn’t that great. But I guess I should be a stallion, shouldn't I?”
Now Crystal Clear laughed. “You say that like it’s a question. But I agree. Being a toothpick isn’t a good look for you, is it?”
“No, I don’t think it is,” she agreed. Then she shuffled awkwardly on her hooves and stared into the mirror before stating her request. “Uh, make me a stallion now.”
It was instant work, only a second before Candle Light’s body shifted to the stallion counterpart he saw briefly when he first arrived in Equestria. He took himself in, seeing the same coat colored a pinkish sort of pastel red and a mane and tail that still had the same periwinkle color containing lavender and blue highlights. He was still about the same height and had on the same square framed brown glasses, although he seemed a little broader in his shoulders, and his glasses fit a little less neatly onto his face on account of his sharper muzzle. But beyond those things and having stallion parts hanging below him rather than mare parts, he truthfully couldn’t say he understood any of the visual differences he saw beyond the fact that he looked more like a stallion now instead of a mare.
His wife, however, could see a difference, despite this being her first time actually interacting with him. “Wow, you look great!” she said, Crystal Clear clapping her hooves. “I bet you were sick of being a girl, weren’t you?”
He didn’t know how much he agreed with that. It certainly felt less expected and much more weird for Candle Light to see himself like this than before, but was that surprising at all? He’d spent weeks getting used to being a mare. Of course switching now felt awkward. Besides, while he was no longer pretty per se, the stallion in the mirror was definitely still handsome.
“Eh,” he shrugged, listening to the voice he recognized from being a human for the first time in weeks. “I don’t really know if it was that big of a deal actually. I mean, I'm a horse either way, and being a girl definitely wasn’t weirder than that. I’m already used to it. Now what color should I make my mane? If I’m gonna be a stallion, I need stallion colors.”
Navy blue was what they started with, along with red highlights and a bright green coat, but Candle Light and Crystal Clear cycled through, looking for the best color combination for him. There was also a brief discussion about whether to be an earth pony, bat pony, or a pegasus, but those ideas were quickly shut down when he highlighted that he wouldn’t be giving up magic. Instead, they focused on how tall he would be and how much he would weigh and what color eyes he would have and the style of his mane.
It was interesting at first to compare the differences, but it was only five or ten minutes before Candle Light felt his breathing start to pick up and his hooves shake slightly. He had no idea what it was, but he was feeling anxious. He pranced in place, and tried rolling his neck and shoulders to get the feeling to dissipate, but it remained. He didn’t know how to describe it, or what brought it on, but it felt terribly uncomfortable, and made him tap a hoof against the floor anxiously.
“I wanna see what you would look like with muscles… are you okay?” Crystal Clear asked.
Candle Light let out a breath, and gave the honest answer. “I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe it’s all this changing. But I…” He had no idea how to describe what he was feeling, or even what it might have been. He blinked and closed his eyes for a moment, then let out another breath.
“I don’t know,” he said again. “Changing like this is weird,” Candle Light told his wife. “Maybe it’s because I haven’t actually thought about what I want to be at all, like Celestia told me to do. Maybe I need to take a day and sit down and think it through before I do this.” He wasn’t sure, but he did know that he felt horribly uncomfortable, like something just wasn’t right. He glanced into the mirror, and told it, “Revert, please.”
Just like changing into a stallion, in just a second, she was the mare she’d gotten used to again, and breathed a sigh of relief. It was definitely something about changing that made her feel like she was having the start of an anxiety attack. She would definitely need to think about what pony she wanted to be before changing. Making random changes did not feel great.
“Awww, I was having fun looking at different colors for you,” Crystal Clear whined. “You’ll let me help you when you think about it though, right?”
“Yeah, of course,” Candle Light assured her, already feeling better. “Once I decide what I want. You can approve it.”
“Good. I wanna help my man pick his avatar well. I can’t imagine you being a girl forever.”
“Haha, neither can I,” Candle Light chuckled, although now scraped a hoof against the ground uncomfortably. Something about that statement rubbed her the wrong way.
There wasn’t any such discomfort that showed up the rest of the time she spent with her wife, which mostly involved laying in bed together and more kisses as they talked about themselves and each other. Eventually, around when Candle Light started to get tired, Crystal Clear said she had to leave, and with a hug and another kiss and a promise to be back tomorrow, Candle Light was left in bed alone to sigh quietly to herself. Even in spite of that little incident with the mirror, it was a very good day, probably the best she had in Equestria, just because she saw her wife.
She wasn’t sure what came over her, but suddenly, the mare was sobbing, laying on her side and hugging her pillow. She didn’t know when the last time she cried was, but it must have been years. She took a long breath and let the tears flow, thinking about how nice the day was in spite of that terrible feeling. Maybe that was why Celestia insisted she give her choices a try. Maybe she didn’t want to change. Everything was already almost perfect as it was.
Celestia seemed like she was a very good judge of what a pony wanted.