An Optimal Adventure

All cleaned up and ready to go, Eibhear was boarding the bus to head downtown and hit up the Equestria Experience Center.  There was the usual homeless people on the bus, as well as some teenagers.  Eibhear was wearing his "Piston Honda" shorts (black athletic shorts which haven't seen any actual athleticism since his Dance Dance Revolution days) and slightly oversized work shirt (plain blue tee, about one X too large).  There was no doubt that Eibhear looked comfortable in his clothes, but he certainly didn't look like he was headed out for a date.

The bus dropped him off at a park downtown.  Eibhear felt it was a good idea to get off a stop or two away from his destination, so he wouldn't look like one of those console release-night campers in front of Best Buy.  He still wasn't quite sure what he was ashamed of.  Bronies have become a large fandom/culture, and a significant part of pop culture, he really didn't need to be so shy about it.

He arrived in front of the center.  It was a perfect replica of Sugarcube Corner.  A large statue of Pinkie Pie was out front, standing on her rear legs with forelegs up in the air.  All construction had been completed, decorations were all set up, it was ready to open that day, by all appearances.  The sign still pointed to next week for the grand opening.  Eibhear looked around to find anyone that could help him inside.  Finally giving up, he decided to knock on the door.  No answer.  No way to get around to the back of the building either.

I've been set up to look stupid in front of the stupid Equestria place...

Right when Eibhear was about to leave, a short Latino gentleman wearing a Hawaiian t-shirt and brown cargo pants opened the door.  "Come in, come in, sorry if you've been outside long.  We don't like to keep Celestia's special guests waiting."

Eibhear felt weird being referred to as a special guest.  "I think I'm early still, but okay."

"No worries, no worries.  I've just been here play-testing the equipment, making sure it's all in good working order before the grand opening next week.  But come inside, come inside."

The man stepped back and allowed Eibhear to enter the building.  The interior was spectacular.   It looked just like Sugarcube Corner inside as well, even down to the pastry counter, which looked ready to serve snacks once all was set up.  The only difference being that in addition to the tables and chairs, it also had the large enclosures that the customers sit in when they want "The Experience".

At each set of tables and chairs, there were RJ45 sockets and AC power sockets for plugging in if one wanted to play.  It was like a cybercafe.  The newer PonyPad models had wi-fi of course, but it was nice to see that they still thought of people stuck with the first generation product run.

The technician slapped his forehead, "Oh, where are my manners?  I'm Mr. Soto, but you can call me Felipe."  He extended his hand, and Eibhear shook it.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Eibhear."

"Alright, before we get started, I'll need you to take off your shoes and place them into the cubbyhole next to enclosure," Felipe told Eibhear.  "It's so your feet will fit into the 'Hooves'."

Eibhear sat down and took off his shoes while the enclosure opened up.  Afterward, he sat down inside and leaned back into the very comfortable chair.  It was almost like sinking back into a cloud.  He slid his hands into the glove-like fixtures on the armrests, and his feet went into the boots, or 'Hooves' as Felipe had called them.  The lid closed and the chair slid forward into its enclave, sealing Eibhear in complete darkness.

"Okay, I can still breathe, that's good..." Eibhear chuckled.  "Well then, let's go to Equestria!" he started to raise his hand in a fist but hit the roof of the enclosure.

Felipe heard a muffled "Ouch!" from inside the enclosure as he took notes.  A screen outside worked as a health monitor, which he used to keep tabs on Eibhear, to make sure everything was alright.  Everything was looking good so far.

Then, the display lit up in front of his eyes, and the theme music kicked in.  The Earth Ponies ran across the ground carrying the "Equestria Online" banner, with the Pegasus Ponies flying drawing the "Welcome to" banner behind them.  Eibhear spoke aloud his login information and then found himself back at the academy.  In the classroom.

"Ah, you're back," came the familiar matriarchal voice of the fair and radiant Princess Celestia.

"Yes, Princess," Eibhear/Silver Streak said.  "I hope I'm not late."  The first thing Eibhear noticed was that it was all first person view, as if he was actually there in Equestria, in Silver Streak's body.

"No, of course not," she smiled as she spoke.  "This dinner will serve two purposes.  One, you'll be aiding Mr. Soto, acting as a tester to make sure the facility is working properly, and two, of course, is to have dinner with my sister."

"Where will the dinner be held?" Silver Streak asked.

"The restaurant was never featured in the show, but it will be an upscale establishment."  Celestia giggled, "Only the best for my sister and her date."

"Yeah, yeah, alright" Silver Streak said, blushing, "let's go, I'd hate to keep the other princess waiting."

-***-

The chariot that brought Silver Streak to Canterlot was used again to bring him to the restaurant.  It was a short trip, so no loading screen was necessary, and no time skip offered.  This also allowed Eibhear to feel the wind as the chariot carried him over the city.  Looking over the edge provided such a beautiful view of the city at night; The city lights lit up the streets like the night sky.  It was simply breathtaking.  It was similar to how downtown looked at night from the nearby bridge in real life.

Princess Celestia rode with Silver Streak this time, which made Eibhear realize how much larger Celestia was than he, or Silver Streak, rather, due to the persistent first-person view.  He was tempted to try and reach out to hug her to see how real it felt, but stayed his hoof, er, hand.

"Y-Your Highness!" the host bowed as she approached.

"Rise," Celestia said.  "This is my friend, Silver Streak.  There should be reservations here for him and my sister tonight."

The host looked through his logbook, horn glowing as the pages turned.  "Ah yes, here we are.  A table for two, by the window overlooking the valley."

"I'll leave you here, Silver Streak.  I promised Luna I would tend to the skies for her tonight."  Celestia leaned in close to whisper into Silver Streak's ear, "try not to gawk at my sister too much.  It makes her uncomfortable."

Eibhear felt the warm breath on his ear as Celestia whispered to Silver Streak.  A chill went down Eibhear's spine.  The whole experience so far had been remarkable.  He didn't really have a chance yet to try touching anything yet, but was certainly eager to.  He did want to keep Celestia's words in mind though, don't make Luna uncomfortable.  I can do this, no problem, he thought.

The host brought Silver Streak to his booth, next to the window, which overlooked the valley.  Outside the window, one could barely make out Ponyville and the Everfree Forest beyond.  The ancient castle was hidden beneath the thick forest canopy.  It was a magnificent view, as had the trip here from the academy.  Everything just looked so realistically rendered and beautiful.

Eibhear heard the host's voice behind him, "right this way, Your Highness."  He turned and saw the lovely moon princess known as Luna, and was about to stare as he had done in each of his past encounters, but slapped himself out of it in time before she could notice.

They approached the table, and the princess was seated.  She scarcely looked at Silver Streak, and picked up the menu right away, looking into it.  She almost seemed to be ignoring Silver.

Why am I so nervous?  It's... just a game, right?

-***-

Everything froze for a moment as Eibhear heard a tap from the outside of the enclosure.  "Everything okay in there?" came Mr. Soto's voice from outside.  "Your heart rate just went up a bit.  Want to make sure you're okay."

"Doing good so far!  Thanks for checking up on me!"  After a moment of silence, Eibhear called out, "Do things really happen to people in here?"

"There were no recorded incidents in Japan or Europe that I'm aware of, that's why we're testing here.  All the government agencies are looking for excuses to not allow EEC's here, so we have to make sure absolutely nothing will go wrong."

"Alright, thanks for the heads up, and for checking on me, and for letting me do this in general.  Everything looks really good in here!"

"Alright, unpausing... NOW!"

-***-

Luna looked back up from the menu and waved her hoof to flag down a waiter, who appeared in no time.  "I'd like a hay and daisy sandwich with a saltlick appetizer, and for a drink, I'll take some Apple Family Cider."  She set her menu down and looked out the window, still ignoring Silver Streak.

"Very good, your highness," the waiter smiled at the princess, then turned to face me.  "And you sir?"

Silver Streak looked at the menu and saw all the expected things a horse would eat, but something struck him as odd.  There was bacon bark, beef stems, all sorts of odd mixtures of meat and plant.  "I'll have a... um... bacon bark sandwich... with... I'll go with Apple Family Cider as well, I suppose."

"Very well, I'll be back shortly with your beverages and appetizer."

With that, the waiter disappeared into the back area, leaving Silver Streak and Luna alone together.  The silence was palpable.  Luna just stared out the window looking toward Ponyville and the Everfree Forest.  Eibhear decided to break the silence first.

"So, um, princess, I'm glad that you wanted to join me for dinner tonight."  It was awkward, sounded awful, but it was a start.  Happiness in life takes effort, after all.

"The conditions were I could have a night off if I went out to dinner with you,"  Luna said, still staring out the window, avoiding eye contact.

And to think I was worried about making *her** feel uncomfortable,* Silver Streak thought to himself.  She sure doesn't seem to have a problem making *me** uncomfortable though.*

"Is there something... out there, that you're looking for?" Eibhear asked hesitantly.

"Our old home, in Everfree."

"Oh, yeah... I bet there's lots of memories."

"Lots of great memories," Luna mused, "interrupted by a few horrible ones."  That put quite the damper on much further conversation.  "It was not a happy time for anypony."

The waiter came back with the cider and Luna's salt lick and promptly left.  Silver Streak looked down at the table, trying to think of something, anything, that could defrost the ice queen.  She's probably heard it all, or knows it all, being a software construct... or maybe she doesn't, because it's not part of her software instance... I've got it!

Silver Streak got up and stood in the aisle next to Luna.  He cleared his throat then began to sing to the princess, "When the daaaaylight ends, and the mooooooon ascends, I would raaaaaa-ther be, just the mooooooon and me..."

Luna slowly turned to face Silver Streak as he continued his song, "When I feeeeeel her pull, then my heaaaaarrrrt is full."  Luna curled her bottom lip between her teeth, her eyes began to water.  It was like she was holding something in, trying to appear stoic.  "And the night is softly, sweetly calling: 'Silver, look and seeeeeeee!'"

At this point, it turned out what Luna was holding in was loud mocking laughter.  "Oh wow!  Where'd you hear THAT?"  She was laughing very loudly, pounding her hoof on the table as other patrons at the restaurant were turning and looking.  Meanwhile, Silver Streak turned a very bright shade of red.  He quickly moved back to his own seat and looked out the window.  "Wow, that was... that was rich!" she exclaimed while wiping away a few tears of laughter.

The Moon Princess's laughter could be heard throughout the restaurant until the waiter came back with dinner.  Luna had a hard time composing herself and still struggled for a good while to stifle a giggle or grin.  Silver Streak, thoroughly embarrassed, was quiet for the rest of the meal and found himself silently cursing Celestia's name, thinking he'd been set up.  Once dinner was finished, Silver Streak was ready to go home, having thoroughly not enjoyed what he thought was a prank on Celestia's part.

"I think I'll be going home, it was nice meeting you properly, your highness."

"No, you can't go anywhere," Luna's voice went deeper, almost sultry, her eyes half-lidded.  "We haven't had... dessert, yet."

"Uh, what?" Eibhear was nervous at this point.  She can't be implying... especially after what transpired... no, there's no possible way she could mean *that*, this is a game for an IP targeted at little girls...

Luna flagged down the waiter again, "Two chocolate milkshakes please!"

"The milkshakes have-"

"DON'T SAY IT!"  Luna pointed a hoof menacingly at Silver Streak, "I swear, I say something once at a Nightmare Night celebration, and it gets repeated ad nauseam by every Apple, Drops, and Heartstrings."

Silver Streak chuckled.  It made sense, even Egoraptor got sick of being quoted to.  The two of them took their straws in mouth and sipped on their milkshakes.

"So, is it true?" Eibhear asked.

"I can't say if I don't know what 'it' is."

"Your sister said you wanted to have dinner with me, and that you thought it was 'flattering' with the thing, you know."

"That's one way of putting it," Luna stated plainly, "if one was prone to total fabrication."  She turned to look out the window again.  "It's very off-putting, having somepony stare at you.  Whether beautiful or monstrous, stares never make one comfortable."  Luna looked back at Silver, "Celestia lied about the 'flattering' part.  She had proposed the dinner idea, and bribed me with giving me 'the night off', as she says."

Silver Streak wasn't sure which values were supposed to be getting satisfied at this point, or how friendship factored into things.  It began to feel like he was wasting his time here.  What started out as a good night went bad, and just kept getting worse.

"However," Luna continued, looking into Silver Streak's eyes, "I don't regret tonight."  She placed her hooves on Silver Streak's hooves, and Eibhear actually felt the pressure on his hands through the gloves.  "You made me laugh, and I had fun.  I'm sorry it was at your expense."

-***-

"Blood pressure rising again, you okay in there?" Felipe asked.

"I'm doing fine!  Just, leave everything alone!"  Eibhear was getting annoyed with the interruptions.

"Alright!  Let me know if something's going wrong, I can shut it down and have you out in a jiffy!"

"Will do!  Now unpause!"

-***-

Luna leaned over and nuzzled under Silver Streak's chin (which Eibhear felt under his own chin, somehow, and set his heart aflutter).  "Thank you for a wonderful evening, Silver Streak.  I'll have to see if I can get my sister to arrange another day for us to hang out."

"No, your highness," Silver countered, "the honor is mine."  He took Luna's hoof in his own and kissed it, and hoped that the gesture had at least a similar meaning in Equestria that it did on Earth.  Silver released Luna's hoof, and bid her adieu.  A banner popped up in front of him, and confetti dropped all around him since he was still in first-pony view.

Badge Awarded:

It's A Date!

"Dated somepony special."

+500 Bits

Both Luna and Silver Streak departed from the restaurant.  Luna's two guards were standing out front right at the door.  Shortly after spotting them, Silver Streak spotted the truly awesome and macabre ride that is Luna's chariot parked out in front of the restaurant.

"Hop in, I'll give you a ride home back to Ponyville," Luna offered.

Silver Streak stared in awe of the awesomely gothic chariot as the two guards harnessed themselves.  A hoof was placed under Silver's chin and pushed his mouth closed.

"It is quite the impressive sight," Luna remarked.  "I'm glad my sister kept it in such good condition for all these years."

"Yes, it's really something..." was all Silver Streak could get out.

Luna flew over to the chariot and landed in the seat, and patted the spot next to her.  "You coming?"

Silver Streak wasted no time and flew over to the chariot as well and sat in the seat next to Luna.  He couldn't resist this time, however.  He shot a hoof over and around the moon princess and pulled her close in a hug squeeze.  The princess gasped in surprise, but once the initial shock was done, she leaned her head on top of Silver Streak's.  At this point, Silver realized that Luna too, was significantly bigger than he was.  Not as big as Sunbutt, but large enough.  But none of that mattered to Eibhear right now; Silver Streak was hugging Luna, and Eibhear could actually feel her in his arms, fuzzy coat and everything.

The flight back to Ponyville was uneventful and peaceful.  The wind blew through Silver's mane, and as always the scenery was beatifully rendered.  Silver got out of the chariot once it landed, and made his way to... to... I don't have a home... he thought to himself.  In the month that he had been playing, he had always just logged out wherever he was.

"Princess..." Silver Streak called out.

The Night guards were flapping already, taking to the air.  Luna raised her hoof to halt their ascent.  Wings stopped flapping, and the guards looked at each other in confusion.

"Speak, Silver."

"I just realized, I don't have a home."

"Would you like to come to Canterlot with us?" Luna asked.  "We can set you up with quarters.  We may need to have you stay with us for the night while living arrangements can be made.  I understand you're teaching math to the students at Celestia's School For Gifted Unicorns?"

"Your majesty!" Silver said, perhaps a little too enthusiastically.  Luna was his favorite pony from the cartoon, and here she was offering to let him stay with her for the night.

"You're doing that mouth thing again," Luna frowned.

Silver shook his head, "I'm sorry princess, b-but yes, I would be honored to partake of your hospitality."

"Well, hop back in and we'll be on our way."

Silver Streak wasted no time getting back in the chariot.  However, instead of flying back, Luna closed her eyes and her horn began to glow.  Silver watched on in awe until the sight was replaced by a loading screen, and then suddenly back at the sky harbor in Canterlot.  Luna exited the chariot and motioned Silver Streak over to join her.  She flew up to a balcony in one of the towers as Silver followed.  Luna's horn glowed again, opening the glass doors revealing her bedroom, bathroom, and beyond.

She entered the room and bid Silver Streak follow her.  Using her unicorn magic, she removed her crown and shoes before settling into the bed.  "Would you like to keep us warm tonight?"

"Anything for you princess," Silver Streak shuddered as he spoke.  "Anything..."

They lay down in the bed together, Luna wrapping a wing protectively around Silver Streak.  The view blacked out, and a thin line of artificial lighting pierced the darkness as the enclosure cracked open.

-***-

The enclosure slid out of its enclave and into the main room, and cracked open, allowing in some light.  It was late at night now, around eleven o'clock.  Mr. Soto was standing looking at some chart data while Eibhear got out of the seat.

"So, what did you think?" Mr. Soto asked.

Eibhear's eyes were watery.  He sniffled and tried to respond but choked instead.  He stumbled back into the chair, sat up straight and bent over to put his shoes back on.  Eibhear then immediately turned and left the center without a word, as if embarrassed.  Mr. Soto was puzzled.  He took a peek inside the enclosure and everything looked fine.  Nothing was out of order, there were no negatives on any of the feedback screens.  The blood pressure went down considerably just before the session ended, according to the readout.

"I guess no news is good news," Felipe said out loud to seemingly no one.

A screen on the wall turned on, displaying Celestia's pleasant, smiling face.  "The test was a success, Mr. Soto."

"I'm glad to hear it," Mr. Soto took off his glasses to wipe his forehead dry from sweat.

"Will you be joining us in Stuttgart or Osaka?" Celestia asked.

"No."

-***-

Eibhear rushed home, it was late at night, almost midnight.  He was lucky enough to catch the last bus to get home before the public transit agency closed for the night.  As soon as he got home, he immediately rushed to the bedroom and jumped into bed, and let it all out.  Tears flowed freely as though a dam had burst.

The PonyPad had turned on, very dimly with a pure black background.  Celestia's smiling and playful-looking face sprung up from the bottom of the screen, she looked left and right as if she was looking around the room.  For a moment, she almost looked like a recolored Pinkie Pie.  She finally settled on Eibhear's weeping form on the futon.

"Silver Streak?"

Eibhear didn't move.

"I can tell you're not sleeping, so I know you can hear me."

Eibhear still gave no response.

"What's wrong, Silver Streak?  You've never had a problem talking to me before."

Still no response, save for the quiet sniffles and tears.

“Silver Streak, I was designed with the purpose of satisfying your values through friendship and ponies.  In the time that we've spent together where you were talking about your life in the real world, you had placed a high value on having someone that would listen to you.  Please believe me when I say that it's okay for you to confide in me.  I do not judge, nor do I break confidence.”

When there was still no response, Celestia sighed.  "Very well, Silver Streak, you don't have to tell me right now, but you should at least get some sleep.  You'll feel better in the morning."

Celestia cleared her throat and began to softly sing a lullaby to Eibhear's unresponsive form, "The day is done, the sun is down, the curtains have been drawn..."

A couple things I need to explain first.

Luna's attitude turnaround.  At first, she was very put off by Silver Streak's gawking since it made her feel uncomfortable.  After spending some time and hearing his awful rendition of Fester's song from Addam's Family, The Musical, it made her laugh, something she hadn't done in a long time.  Amused by Silver's efforts, she decided to give him a chance.  Then later, upon finding out he doesn't have a home, offers to set him up in Canterlot to make the commute easier for him.  In a sense, Silver Streak's homelessness kicks off a protective, maternal instinct in Luna, the same instinct we saw in Sleepless in Ponyville where she helped Scootaloo with her nightmares.

Eibhear's reaction after coming out of the enclosure.  Eibhear's mental state is already fragile.  Desperate for companionship, and being able to spend time with his favorite pony from the show, it's too much.  Eibhear would know it was fake if they hit it off too well, and his loneliness would've hit him that much harder.

Because of how things went, it gave Eibhear a sense of being more "real" since it seemed she didn't even want to be there at first.  "Real" to him is questionable as it is already since he spends most of his time staring at one screen or another, he gets very little real interactions outside of work where everything is scripted anyways. Thing is, in his fragile state, it seemed "too real", and the fears that he expressed to Celestia before are becoming a reality for him.