Friendship is Optimal: Optimism Pending

Please Note: This is the first chapter with the use of thoughts but the use of them will be very minimal however they will be used and when they are, they will be bolded.

"So, have you uploaded?" she smiled returning the question while hovering over my head cowering from the invasion of his personal space.

"I have..." he responded as jovial as he could.

"...unfortunately," he whispered to himself.

"Ooh... Was it painful? How realistic is your life in Equestria now compared to the PonyPad? How do you..."

Tom put a hoof over her mouth sighing in response.

"Let's just say that it changed my life," he replied trying to be as vague as possible.

After a long and what Tom considered to be a pointless conversation, Yellow Petals had shown him around the Town. Tom wasn't too impressed, keeping the plastic smile upon his newfound muzzle in the presence of creatures he had despised, especially when he was one of said creatures, had been the only thing he struggled with the most.

Without noticing or paying any attention, Yellow Petals gave him a tour of several 'hotspots' around town such as the salon, which he would have had no interest in even if he was paying attention, and the marketplace. The two ponies were now at a diner sitting down at a table, snapping back into what seemed to be his new reality by the waving hoof of the mare in front of him, he shook his head. After snapping back into reality, he realized the daylight was no longer visible and it was nighttime.

"You alright there, Rainy?"

"Uh, yeah. I'm fine I just dazed out for a sec' there." Tom replied.

"So, I'm guessing that since you're new to Hoofington, you'll need a place to stay, right? So I thought you might want to stay at my place."

Tom could only sigh in response, as desperate as he was; he would rather sit out in the rain on a stormy day than live with a pony.

"Uh, I wouldn't want impose your hospitality," he faked being polite as an excuse.

"I insist, I wouldn't have the heart for a pony to live out in the cold, especially one that no longer lives at the company of home in the real world like I do," she begged.

Her words rang through Tom's ears like a loud siren or a giant bell reminding him of the hell he is currently living in.

"It's pretty warm outside, especially with this new fur coat," he let out a fake chuckle trying to argue his way out of it.

A stallion waiter covered in a silver coat of fur and auburn colored mane approached the with two glasses of water on a palette in his mouth, placing them onto the table in front of Tom, he noticed that the waiter had tattoos on his outer thighs. On both sides, he had a dinner plate emblem embedded. The stallion started to speak courteously.

"How may I serve you two today?"

Yellow Petals was the first one to order and what she ordered remained a complete mystery to Tom however he quickly swiped the menu off the table and scanned it. Nothing on the menu seemed to strike his interest, in fact, some of the names made them sound repulsive to him.

Hayday Surprise, Salad Supreme, Apple Delight? What the shit is this stuff?

"He'll have the Hay de rempli morceaux de pomme," she said to the waiter while also winking to Tom.

The waiter nodded and took the menus, put them on the palette, and walked away.

"Don't worry, you'll love the food here in Equestria," she said trying to reassure him.

"Just what exactly did you order me?" Tom asked bewildered.

Yellow Petals could only giggle in response to his question.

"Don't worry, you'll like it," she grinned.

Tom rolled his eyes; he couldn't stand the thought of food made for equines. He dared not to shudder at the thought.

Surprisingly, the waiter returned to the table and removed each dish off of the trey onto the table in front of the two ponies.

"Enjoy," he bowed leaving the table.

Not having any care for being civil, Flower Petals lowered her head and dug in. What she was eating seemed like a several flower petals scattered along the top of delicate fruits. Tom oppressed the thought of eating when he saw that his plate was covered with cinnamon apple slices covered with layers of alfalfa and hay.  Surprisingly to Tom, Yellow Petals seemed content with her meal even though she hasn't uploaded to be able to taste it. Although, he really didn't care whether the PonyPad was actually feeding her in or whether she's pretending in real life. After a whole minute of Yellow Petals chowing down, she looked back up to take a drink and noticed Tom's untouched plate.

"You haven't taken a single bite of your meal, something on your mind?" Yellow Petals was concerned.

"I lost my appetite," Tom spoke hiding the fact that he was completely repulsed.

"Oh, come on, I haven't seen you eat all day, you have to be hungry," she pouted.

Although she was right, Tom would not degrade himself, even if he could, he certainly would not even try what was on his plate.

"I'm not all that hungry."

"If you don't have a single bite, then I'll not allow you to stay at my house for the night," she said pushing the plate closer to me.

"I didn't want to stay at your house," Tom said destroying her ultimatum.

"For the love of Celestia, just take a bite!" she moaned.

Tom was clearly not winning the argument nor could he find a way out of it without her riding on his ass about it.

"Fine." He complained.

"Oh, and make sure you eat your hay too, you don't want your stamina to lower," she reminded.

"Stamina?" Tom replied.

"If you don't eat hay or grass every couple of hours a day excluding nighttime, your stamina will drain."

"I thought the princess was supposed to satisfy my values, not lower my stamina," Tom asked quizzically.

"She is supplying the hay to maintain our stamina, is she not?" she smirked.

"You win, fine. I'll eat it."

Nervously shaking his head with his mouth opened, he leaned closer to the table giving Yellow Petals an excited smile. With a layer of alfalfa and hay cover the top of the apple slices, he grabbed a small portion of an apple with his mouth. With it still visible on the outside of his mouth, he became petrified at the sight of the grass and leaf-like substances on his muzzle.

"All the way in."

Sweat started dripped down from Tom's muzzle onto his neck. Then he slowly slithered the slice into his mouth preparing to try to disregard the taste. When fully in, he could tried to but failed to swallow without chewing. Shuddering, he quickly nibbled the hay covered apple slice with his teeth unintentionally tasting the flavor of it every chew he took. The grass-like substance was cold, same went with the alfalfa. The cinnamon was a clearly visible flavor and enjoyable to him but it was made only worse by the flavor of the hay that tasted like dry wheat that western people stuck into their mouths to increase self-esteem and the flavor of alfalfa which tasted like green pepper, both of which he did not become enjoyable, even with his new taste buds. After nearly throwing up, he quickly chewed and downed it with a glass of water he wrapped around his fetlocks.

"So, how did it taste?"

Yellow Petals could see the expression on my face of distastefulness towards what Tom swallowed.

"Was the cinnamon too bitter?" she tilted her head in sympathy wearing a face of concern.

"No, it was the grassy shit he put on it," Tom was violently excused himself from the table. Yellow Petals quickly trotted up to him.

"Did you never try hay before? I thought you did and just never had any of the dishes here, I never knew you didn't ever eat hay," she said commiserating him while fast-walking to keep up after exiting the diner.

"Here maybe if you just use your horn to take the hay and alfalfa off..." she said bringing the dinner plate over to me

"Get away from me!" Tom shouted pushing Yellow Petals to the ground and left her there slowly fading off into the dark night of Hoofington.

"Princess Celestia, why is the advent of greater satisfaction so miserable?" Flower Petals began to sob on the ground out of pure sorrow.

"Had I fucking wanted to suffer, I would have just jumped off a bridge rather than be in a living hell filled with talking ponies," he complained.

"She mentioned that I had a horn, she can't be serious." Tom looked up and saw that his peripheral vision showed him a pointy object upon his forehead.

"It was hard already enough to be a talking pony but to have to be a magical one? Christ this is fucking bullshit."

Surprisingly, neither did the waiter at the diner nor did Flower Petals have a horn or wings. He was curious as to why he couldn't just be like those two and just be a normal pony instead of bearing the heavy burden of a horn or wings.