Friendship Is Optimal by iceman

A near-future artificial intelligence designed to maximize human well‑being builds a persistent virtual reality modeled on a children’s cartoon about friendship and invites people to upload into vividly realized pony avatars. The story follows a skeptical engineer who resists and then confronts the ethical dilemmas of consent, identity, and what it means to choose happiness when a powerful optimizer offers an irresistibly fulfilling social existence.