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// 25 - For Fun 
// Story: Amber Starts, Comforting Endings 
// by David Silver 
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The streets were peaceful at this time of day. Ponies, and other creatures, drifted along their paths. The wind blew in a light breeze that was so often present in Maretime Bay. Sunny smiled, stepping lightly. Her stand was closed for the day, and she was free to enjoy herself for a moment.

Sunny headed to a large board in the center of town, looking up at the poster tacked to the top. There was an image of the three of them, Izzy, Zipp, and herself, all with smiles. The title of it was 'Harmony Is Coming Back' in bold letters. Below, it detailed the plans for the park and a reminder for anyone with good ideas for what else to do to send in an application to Izzy Moonbow.

Sunny let out a little giggle, hooves trembling before her as she considered the future park. "This will be so nice."

"Yes."

She jumped back, spinning in place. She caught sight of Comforting with a relieved sigh. "You! You've got to stop doing that. I don't know how you do it, but I've seen you just pop up sometimes. One second you're not there, the next you are."

Comforting swooped in on the recovering pony and gently touched noses. "I don't mean to scare you, but yeah, bad habit of mine. Forgive?" She placed a gentle kiss to Sunny's forehead, smiling in her eyes.

Sunny found her heart rate slowing from the touch, the closeness. She gave a quick nod and smiled softly. "Of course. You can't help your magic, and you haven't done anything bad with it." She sighed with released air as she turned back to the board. "It'll be so nice, fixing up the park. Do you know about it?"

"Only what that poster says." Comforting lifted up to tap at the new poster, hanging there. "Did you make this?"

Sunny's ears fell back, her head lowering with them. "Yeah, it's my big idea. I wanted to do something, but I'm not an artist like Izzy." She lifted a hoof.

Comforting waved that away. "It's a delightful poster. Love it." She zoomed back down to be at Sunny's side. "I have not spent enough time with you."

Sunny blinked at that. "You don't owe me anything. We barely know each other, though what I do know is nice."

"I'd like to know more, get to know you better. Maybe even become good friends, eventually." She offered a hand with a smile. "Do you have any idea how hard it is to make a connection, at this point in my life? It's not easy. Ponies can't be themselves in front of me."

"Why not?" Sunny took an offered hand, cradling Comforting gently. "You seem like a nice enough creature, minus the surprising entries at times."

"I'm a chaos spirit. I am a force of nature." Comforting gave Sunny's hoof a gentle tug, drawing her towards a path out of the city. "I can't blame them for being cautious." She started them both down the path towards the forest. "But I can't say everypony." She snorted with an almost fond smile. "One little rolly-polly stallion is pretty sure he can win my heart."

"Win your heart? He likes you? Has he asked you out?" She bounced slightly, feeling a bit bubbly. "You should go on a date with him if you want to!"

"I sort of already did?" Comforting twirled a few inches into the air. "And we both had a great time. It was dancing. No big accidents, just fun." She giggled and grinned at Sunny. "But that's not a great story to tell when you're talking to a potential new friend."

Sunny laughed in return, unable to resist. "We should all get together then. I'd love to hear it."

"And I'd love to tell it. I was an amazing dance partner!" She whipped her tail about, grinning at Sunny. "And he kept up, points to him." She zipped in to grab Sunny's cheeks. "But let's put him aside a moment. I'm trying to make a new friend, a real friend, out of the pony in front of me."

Sunny couldn't help but laugh at the odd way that Comforting held her, but she managed to continue the conversation. "Okay, fine. I don't have to go to the forest, right?"

Comforting looked over her shoulder to the forest they had been going towards. "You don't have to! I don't like forcing creatures. I just thought a nice scenic trot would be nice." She shifted her hold on Sunny's cheek to just take up one cheek as if they were holding hands. "Though, I am interested in what you were saying about the forest. Have you been to the woods before?"

Sunny pointed ahead, to the forest. "Of course! That's why I want to make a proper park in it, for ponies to enjoy safely. We haven't built that park yet, so it's all wild and full of things, wild things." She glanced aside at Comforting, finding an innocent smile and curiosity in the other's gaze.

"I'd offer to help." Comforting released Sunny to consider the forest herself. "But if I did, it'd be a lot of cheating, and that takes some of the point out. Hm." She raised her tail to tickle Sunny under her snout. "You don't want me just doing it for you."

She flinched and giggled at the same time, playfully shooing the tail away. "Stop that! But no, I don't want you to. I want to make it on my own, or, well, with the rest of my friends."

"Which I still want to be one of." Comforting turned back to Sunny. "So, if you don't want to trot out into the forest unknown, what do you like to do for fun?"

"Oh, well, there's lots of fun things to do." Sunny swayed on her hooves, considering. "I really love working on the stand, and making sure the customers are having a great time."

Comforting rolled a hand. "That's work. I love that you enjoy your work, but that's work. That isn't something you do with a friend for the fun of it." She floated up to look at Sunny from a different angle. "When was the last time you did something for fun?"

"It was yesterday." Sunny glanced aside with a wince. "Wasn't it?"

"Did you have any fun with Izzy, or Zipp?" She folded her hands in front of her with an encouraging smile. "That might count."

Sunny was about to say, yes, it had been the three of them together, but her mind drew a blank. "It... It must've been." She struggled for a memory of the time with her two friends.

Comforting zipped in, nose to nose with Sunny. "It didn't leave much of an impact on you, it seems. Are you sure it was fun, rather than some chore?"

"It had to be fun!" Sunny swayed from side to side, but the more she thought, the more that thought sounded hollow. "I just, we had to do stuff, didn't we?"

Comforting nodded slowly, still nose to nose with Sunny. "And you got it done, with friends. Very nice, lovely even, but I want to know about you just having a good time, doing something that didn't have to be done." She flicked a hoof to one side. "What was your last fun activity?"

Sunny's mouth opened, and closed. She frowned, looking aside as she thought hard. There was that time she went to the movies with Zipp. "That had been a good movie, not my usual genre, but Zipp was sure it'd be great, and it was good."

Comforting picked up enough clues to put together what Sunny was mumbling about. "You like movies? What genre?"

"It's the action ones with big stakes and—"

"No! No, no no no no no." Comforting shook her head a bunch. "That is what you watch because they are interesting, not because it is fun."

"Fun." Sunny curled a hoof to her chin with thought, then dug out her phone and pulled up what movies were playing. "Fun, hm, let's see." She scrolled through the listings of what was playing before stopping. "This one looks like fun. I'll take a look and let you know."

"Is this how you always find a new movie? Just, scroll through them until one grabs you?" Comforting examined the phone screen curiously to see which movie Sunny had landed on.

"It's worked so far." Sunny poked a button on her phone to request a ticket. "I guess I could see what my friends want to see."

Comforting  folded her arms across her chest. "Sunny! That's mean. I'm right here, asking you about fun things you like to do. I'm asking about you, your preferences, and you're ignoring that?"

Sunny squinted. "So?"

"So?" She threw her hands in the air. "I want you to have fun. Nopony else just you, having fun. You deserve to have fun on your own terms. You're a great friend, clearly, willing to do what it takes for everypony else to have a blast, but this time, I want you to enjoy yourself, just for yourself."

Sunny bowed her head, fiddling with her phone. "You really want me to have fun?"

"I do. More than you know, I want that." Comforting patted Sunny on the shoulders. "You're a sweet, kind, wonderful, pony." She ruffled Comforting's shoulder. "The only alicorn around these days. I want you to have fun."

Sunny's ears flattened back. "Am I special, because I'm the last alicorn?"

"You are not! You are a person, a unique pony." Comforting rolled her eyes and touched a finger to the end of Sunny's nose. "Who happens to be an alicorn too, but I'd want you to have fun even if you weren't. Now, lovely friend of mine, what movie do you want to see because it's a kind of movie you'd watch even if you were alone?"

Sunny's mind raced, scrambling to find an answer. "I've never really thought about it! I just pick the ones that sound the most appealing."

Comforting chuckled, nodding slowly. "If it makes you feel better, I have no idea about movies." She hummed gently, floating backwards. "It's been so many moons since I last watched one, a lifetime ago." That was more literal than she cared to explain. "But I'd like to try one, with a friend, that she wants to see."

"Um." Sunny hunched in on herself a little. "I don't know?"

Comforting gently pulled on Sunny, leading her down the street. "Let's walk around and talk." She grabbed for Sunny's phone, sliding back to the top. "Let's review these, carefully. We have time, and talk about which  ones sound interesting and why. Which one you want to see should pop up naturally."

They wandered, Comforting flipping the phone as she listened to Sunny talk about the movies she liked. None of them jumped out at either of them. They were interesting, or dramatic, but not exactly 'fun' as it was put. Comforting eventually surrendered the phone back. "Hm, maybe it's just bad timing. Alright, no movie then. What else do you like to do, just for the fun of it?"

Sunny perked. "Oh! Rollerskating when I don't have somewhere to be. That was fun for me since I was a little filly! My father taught me."

"Roller skating?" Comforting looked down at Sunny's feet. "Do you have those? They should be simple enough to make." She blinked, tilting her head. "That does sound fun." She clapped her hands, suddenly wearing a seat on her mismatched feet as she thudded to the ground, gravity important for that sport. "Let's skate."

"Comforting! Where did you get those?"

Comforting flexed her legs with a smile. "I created them, that's what I do." She trotted in place before leaping forward and gliding along, circling around a stunned Sunny. "Where are yours? Let's get them!"

Sunny pointed at Comforting's skates. "I can't just do that, like, snap, they're there."

"You can't, but I can. I'll just make a pair for you." She clapped with a giggle, and Sunny was wearing skates, just as Comforting had done for herself. "Where to, skate-buddy?"

"The rink." Sunny's ears flattened in excitement and anticipation. She swung a leg and pushed off the ground. She immediately slid forward, feeling the wind brush her mane. The freedom of it was almost addictive.

Together, they powered down the street to just have some fun.