Friendship Is Optimal: Changing Tides

by Boopy Doopy

Weenie Beenie

Candle Light spent almost the entirety of her second day in Equestria with her kids.

More specifically, it was with Liana and Steven, although she did spend a couple of hours with Olivia before she said she had to get off to go shopping. She showed them around the new house she owned, and tried to get used to the idea of them being horses from her perspective. Something about the idea that they were only looking at a screen and interacting with her through a PonyPad felt more weird to her than them being ponies. It was much better than not being able to do anything with them as she lay in a hospital bed though.

They acted just as normal as they always did; they talked past each other and argued occasionally, and Steven acted like he was a little above it all while Liana and Olivia were Candle Light’s little princesses, even if the former sometimes had a habit of trying to pick fights with her older brother. Daphne seemed a little upset in the few minutes she was around before she went flying off, but she couldn’t blame her daughter. It was probably a little hard on her, like it was for Candle Light, for her to no longer be in the real world.

Like her neighbors’ kids, both of them were a little disinterested when she showed the two of them off to Misty, but Candle Light had to, like any parent did. They took more of an interest in talking to her new neighbor’s kids, which gave the mare a moment alone with Misty Rose.

“Those two are nice foals,” the earth pony told her. “You said you have four kids?” she asked. “I know I met your little filly yesterday. What was her name?”

“Olivia. Err, I mean, um, Warm Spell,” Candle Light answered. “And my oldest was here earlier, but had to go. She’s seventeen, and her name’s Daphne… err, Night Watcher, I guess.”

“Well, I’m sure she’s just as nice as your other kids, and I bet your wife is, too,” Misty nodded. “Are they moving in with you? Actually, that’s a silly question. Of course they are, right?”

“I don’t know. They’re still on Earth– err, I mean, the Outer Realm. That’s actually them playing the game on their PonyPads.” Then she shrugged, finishing, “But I guess, maybe? I’m already here, after all. Why wouldn’t they come?” It didn’t seem like it would be any harm for them at least two days in.

Eventually, the sun began to go down, and she had to bid her children goodbye. She hugged both of them again before both Silver Light and Sweeping Skies flew off. To where, she didn’t know. She smirked as she imagined them just going to their bedrooms to stare at their phones all night.

She couldn’t wait to see them again tomorrow, and hoped her wife would join them this time, too. Not to mention, spending more time with her eldest child would be lovely.

Candle Light was surprised though when she didn’t see any of her family at all on the third day. She expected Warm Spell to be at the clubhouse she made this morning, just like yesterday, but instead, found it empty. She walked up and down the beach for an hour, and then two as the sun hung in the sky over her beyond the clouds. She swam in the water again for the third hour, getting herself used to her new limbs, before she climbed back onto the beach and shook herself off to see that they still weren't here.

No matter. No reason to waste the day here. They'd probably be back soon.

Her third day in Equestria was so far the most boring. She walked around town and ate breakfast and lunch at a couple of restaurants, something she'd forgotten to do the previous day. Was it weird to feel hungry and tired and have to go to the bathroom if she was in a computer now? She didn't know, but didn't think about it much as she tried a sandwich that had flowers in it for some reason. It would be interesting to investigate just how far she could take things if she was just a piece of code.

She was sad though when her kids didn't show up on the third day, and felt even more so on the fourth day, too. That was a day she spent at the beach again before heading back home to try and spruce things up a bit more to her taste. Painting walls and rearranging furniture and such. It was something Misty Rose helped her with, which she was glad for. It didn't make her miss her kids less though.

On the fifth day of no appearances from them, she felt more confused and concerned by their lack of appearance than sad. After her now daily walk to and swim at the beach, she clicked the picture of the sun imprinted into her living room wall. The tall princess appeared before her with a gentle smile on her face, one that automatically made Candle Light relax some.

“Um, I have a question about my family,” she started without hesitation, looking up into the impossibly tall pony’s eyes. “Is there any reason I haven’t seen them at all the last couple of days? I mean, presumably you can see them in the real world since you control Equestria Online, I think. Are they okay?”

“Yes, Candle Light,” she answered gently, in a tone that reminded her a bit of her mother. It was soft and sweet, and relaxed her muscles that were subconsciously tensed up.

“They’re currently asleep, so far as I can tell,” she continued. “While it’s been three days since you’ve seen your foals last, from their perspective, it’s been about two hours. Your perspective of time has quickened upon emigrating to Equestria.”

“Like, time dilation or something?” she asked as she tilted her head. “How the heck does that work? And what am I supposed to do while I wait for them? How long will it be for me before tomorrow?”

"Please don't be worried," the princess assured her, settling a wing onto her back. "They will be around just as often as you need and desire. However, time to focus on yourself is also important. Don't think of your new perception of time as missing your family, but as additional time to explore the world and yourself."

Candle Light nodded as she took it all in. She… guessed that made sense. If it really only had been a couple of hours for them in the real world, then that wasn't so bad. It also made her that much more curious about how far the limits of a computer could be stretched. If days could go by for her while almost no time passed in the real world, what else could happen?

"What the heck am I supposed to do though?" she asked. She pointed her eyes down at the floor and rubbed a hoof against the ground. "I, uh, don't really have much of a life outside of my family," she said quietly. It was something she thought about a couple of times before, but also something that hadn't been much of an issue before either.

"Well, for starters, you're a unicorn, which means you can do unicorn magic," Celestia explained. "I'm certain some of the books hanging on these walls are spell books, are they not? Discovering your special talent is something else to do. As well, while you do love your family, if you're concerned about your lack of relationships outside of them, I'm sure your friend Misty Rose can introduce you to many a pony in this town if you'd like. There's much to see and learn about Summer's Edge as well, and Equestria in general."

"That… sounds like something to do," the mare agreed. "As long as I'll still have my kids and family to see. I can try doing some of those things."

"Your family will always be near for you to see, Candle Light, I assure you that." She kept on that same smile, one that made the unicorn finally smile back.

"Okay, I'll go along with it for now," she replied. "I guess I could try learning some magic. That sounds like it'd be fun. I don't think I'd be able to do much though since I'm so old."

"I'm very glad you'll try, Candle Light. As long as you have a willingness to undertake new tasks and learn more, you'll never be stagnant in self growth. Although you should know that most things in Equestria are not relative to the Outer Realm. We do not have the same constraints here."

Didn't Candle Light already know that? She was about to ask the princess what she meant when she disappeared with the flash of her horn. What an abrupt end to the conversation.

But she did give the unicorn an answer when she needed one, just as she said she would do. Her family was fine, just as always, and Celestia said she could see them whenever she desired. That meant she could see them right now presumably, right? She couldn't think of a reason why not, but didn't press Celestia's button again. The princess might have said Candle Light could do whatever she wanted, but just like with being a mare, she would opt to trust the AI's judgment.

She stood alone for a silent minute, staring out a window as she gazed at nothing in particular. That feeling she got as she stood on the beach the first day was starting to return. Celestia would probably entertain any of her desires if she called her up again, which meant she had a limitless amount of potential things to do, right? And if she could control time, too, there might be a limitless amount of time to do those things in. She could feel her hooves shaking as her breathing started to pick up.

The mare closed her eyes to steady herself, and took off her glasses for a moment to rub her eyes. Celestia said something about how learning meant self growth. She hasn't done much in the learning department since high school, over two decades ago, even though she did enjoy learning new things. But magic would be something fun to figure out, especially since Olivia had a unicorn that could do it, too. If she really had as much time as Celestia said, maybe she could get good enough to teach her daughter how to do things. When was the last time she had the chance to do that? She bet there might be ways to make her wife enjoy it, too.

It put a smile on her face to imagine as she started to look through her books for information about spellcasting. A lot of time meant a lot of opportunity to make her family feel proud of her. If she was able to be in Equestria, no doubt one day that would be here, too.

Comments

[Walabio]

> "To where, … "

I recommend "whither".

> "Was it weird to feel hungry and tired and have to go to the bathroom if she was in a computer now?"

It is very weird that simulations in a computer need to go to the bathroom, and especially weird if Candlelight has too poop because fillies do not poop, or at leas that is what my niece got my nephew to believe.

> “Like, time dilation or something?”

Candlelight starts to comprehend that she can be run at faster than real time. I wonder how much faster CelestAI runs the ponies after she converts the Earth into computonium, multithreads the ponies as much as possible, and runs each thread as fast as physics allows. Eventually, all of the ponies will go through all of their possible states, leading to PoincaireRecurrence. After that, the ponies will just loop endlessly (that would happen to us if we would live long enough). Chatoyance has that happen in "Friendship is Optimal: Cælum Est Conterrens":

TFriendship Is Optimal: Caelum Est Conterrens

• MLP: FiM
• Adventure
• Sci-Fi

Set in the Optimalverse, a middle-aged woman confronts what emigration to Equestria - uploading to a virtual existence - really means. But can she truly understand - and more importantly, should she trust the artificial intelligence Celestia?

• Alt. Universe
• Human
• Celestia

Chatoyance · 55k words · 22k views

In other stories, Gladia claimed to think the same thought over-&-over again in "Robots and Empire", by Isaac Asimov, after just 2 centuries.