“Sure. Alright, follow me, the restaurant’s this way!” Vinyl says, walking straight past you. You turn around to follow her and suddenly find yourself standing before a somewhat large wooden structure. At the front are double-doors with windows on either side and above is a billboard displaying a hayburger and onion horseshoes. It’s not a restaurant that you’ve seen before, which makes you eager to try out something new.
“I’ve been here several times with Octavia. The burgers here are really good, they’re not like your ordinary fast food joint that just load ‘em with chemicals and serve.” Vinyl walks up to the double doors and pushes one of them open, gesturing for you to walk inside.
You do so and are greeted with a room filled with rows upon rows of round wooden tables. Almost all the tables are occupied, and loud chatter resonates in your ears. It’s easy to assume that this is a pretty popular place, and you’re surprised that you haven’t heard of it sooner.
“There,” Vinyl says, pointing to a table at the center of the room with two empty seats. The two of you head toward the table and take a seat.
“They’ve got all sorts of stuff here. They advertise hayburgers and onion horseshoes cause that’s their most popular item on the menu, but they have other stuff like soup, wraps—”
“Excuse me,” a voice says to your right, interrupting Vinyl. You both look and see a unicorn waitress wearing a white vest and levitating a notepad and pen in her magic. “Welcome to Our Restaurant. What would you like to order?”
“Oh, I’ll take a regular hayburger and a grape soda,” Vinyl says.
The waitress nods, jots that in her notepad and looks at you. You look at the menu in front of you and point at the item that looks the best. She writes it quickly. “That’ll be five bits from both of you.”
You reach into your saddlebag, which you don’t actually remember having on you before now, and take out five of the ten bits inside. You would have thought they’d charge you after eating, but leave it up to the assumption that they do things differently in Ponyville. You hand the bits to the waitress and with a satisfied smile, she turns to Vinyl.
The unicorn mare reaches toward her back and grabs at empty air. Turning her head back, she frowns, realizing what she’s missing. “Shoot, how could I forget my saddlebag...” She turns back to you. “Stupid me forgot to bring bits. Hey, do ya mind doing me this solid? I promise to pay you back.”
You think about it. You do have the extra five bits in your bag—just enough to cover her meal, and like any good friend, it’s the only respectful thing to do. On the other hoof, it is her fault that she didn’t remember to bring bits to a restaurant, and you may need those five bits for something important.
What do you do?
Pay Five Bits__________________________________________________________________________________________Pay Ten Bits