What happens when you realize that your life is a simulation? Well, you put the headset back on.
Twilight thought it was all so real-- the crisp morning air, the warmth of the rising sun, the ponies that went about their day-- it all seemed real to her. Yet, with the breaking of a single connection, everything comes crashing down, leaving a very confused girl wearing a VR headset.
Lyra is convinced that the ancient Horn of Celestia is the key to unlocking the true history of her race. But the tower isn't what it seems, and neither is she.
Since time immemorial, the Horn of Celestia has stood above the ancient northern glaciers. It is older than the Empire, older than Equestria itself. The tower carries many ancient legends, but the most credible is this: that during the time of strife, ponies sacrificed their greatest powers to come together into a single kingdom, committed to peace and friendship forevermore.
Lyra Heartstrings is convinced there is more to this story, and after years of preparation, she has arrived at the tower with an expedition of friends and fellow experts to discover the truth for herself. One way or another, she will discover the secrets concealed in the ancient horn, even if it costs her everything.
This story was written on my Patreon as a commission for HMage, but was one of the earliest casualties of the pandemic. As a result, only part 1 of 2 was written. There are roughly eleven chapters taking us to what was meant to be the halfway point of the story. At least for now, the story will end there--not as a painful cliffhanger, but before our heroes transition to the next phase of their adventure.
There are no plans to continue beyond that at this point. But it felt like a terrible shame that other people couldn't enjoy the story thus far.
Editing by Two Bit and Sparktail, cover by Zutcha. The works.
the world of ponies is about to meet an emissary of an unknown race.
Humanity send in a mechanical beast to explore a new world they just recently discovered; however, this world wasn’t uninhabited. Now the machine documents everything these unusual, yet intriguing creatures have to show…but will the creatures the machine discovered be welcoming to its creators, or not? Only time, and the future will tell.
Small Update: considering there are going to be more than one robot than I planned to be using for the story, I decided to change the title. credit for the new title is thanks to a fic-reader by the name of, RanBro.
-now this fic just popped into my head and i couldn't get it out of my head, so i could focus on my other fics. not sure if this is going to be a frequently updated story, as it was spur of the moment that i just had to write down.
-the official size prompt is this. When compared to Ponies. Adult Pony: 4 - 4.5ft. tall. Foals: 2 - 3ft. tall. Luna & Cadence: 5 - 5.5ft. Celestia: 6ft.
-R.O.V.E.R (is basically twice the size of an African male lion.) Height: 14.4ft. (head to feet)/Length: 21.5ft. (head to tip of tail)/Weight: 1505lbs.
A group of ponies accidentally activate a dormant alien spacecraft. Things only go downhill from there... Or uphill, depending on who you ask. | In Part I of their tale, the ponies figure out their ship, and Luna figures out her true potential.
Three years ago, an alien spacecraft was discovered buried deep beneath the Everfree Forest. Without delay, it was excavated and thoroughly studied to the best of Equestria's capabilities. All signs pointed it being completely defunct, never to fly again.
Though unfortunately for creatures visiting it during its first day as a museum, the truth was the exact opposite.
A three hour tour of the ship has now turned into a grand tour of the galaxy. Will homesickness overtake these new explorers, or will they learn to love going where no pony has gone before?
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In Part I of their tale, the ponies arrive in a star system at the edge of the galaxy. Immediately, Luna is voted as 'captain', and the race is on to find out how to operate the museum turned starship before they run out of food. Will our intrepid night princess be able to lead her ponies to this goal, or will her self-doubts put an end to her captaining days?
And why can't her new Red Dwarf friend be less cryptic if there's danger nearby?
Long after MLP faded into obscurity, Ron and the other volunteers slaved away to build a game populated by the characters he loved. He never expected they might wake up. He was wrong.
Ronald Lee is the systems administrator for one of the largest fan-made online games in the world. Though nothing new has been produced for MLP for decades now, fans old and young continue to flock to the online version of Equestria they're building together.
Of course he knew that the programs they wrote would grow more intelligent over time. With cheaper hardware and better AI, this was always expected, and a user experience allowing for content similar to the show to be produced in real time for every user was always tantalizingly close.
Then Starlight Glimmer started talking to him.
This story is a prequel to Synthesis, and doesn't require knowledge of that story. You may want to check it out when you're done here, however.
This story was commissioned by Two Bit, who also helped edit because he is an absolute mad lad. Sparktail helped too.
Not every adventure is enough to make a novel. Those little bits that don't quite fit, those are the Starscribbles.
The following is my anthology collection of oneshots and other scraps that wouldn't merit their own release. Not all of it will be up to my usual editing standard, though some of it might be. Here are the contest entries, the oneshots I abandoned, or just didn't think warranted a cover and a proper release. I've always been more about long-form fiction, but the shorter stuff has to go somewhere.
Consider each chapter to be independent, and seeing something here is effectively a guarantee there won't be any more of that thing. Context for each section in their authors' notes.
Daring Do finds an artifact that does... something. She just doesn't know what.
As an archeologist with a reputation to uphold, she is determined to figure out what, precisely, it does. Twilight Sparkle might just be able to assist in this endeavor.
Or maybe they'll both panic about not knowing together. That works too.
Space...the final front tier...PFFT can't believe I said that! Well besides that well lets just say the universe is a big place.
This story is for my new years revolution...
Special thanks to Issactheautobot for the 1,2, and 3 chapter along with Resident Moron with 8 and 10 chapter.
After a unknown of turn of events a human from earth is somehow transformed into a creature known as a Protogen. The sci-fi loving human is at first shocked by his new form but he soon turns his fear into joy when he finds out what he is become.
Sadly though he isn't on earth any more.
On a back words world known as Equis the young Protogen begans to build his home but ends up caught inbetween politics and other outside problems. He always loved meeting new people but some of these guys wish to take him apart for science while others want to learn from him.
Radiant Dawn thought that she was ready for anything when she volunteered to make first contact on behalf of Equestria. But is all the preparation in the world enough when she has to face the unexpected?
Radiant Dawn had nothing to lose when she signed up with the Startrotter Association. So when Equus finds an ancient probe bearing a message of friendship, she was more than ready to volunteer herself for a one way trip in the spirit of Harmony.
She had trusted her life to an unproven spell to keep her asleep for the journey to a world thousands of light years away, knowing that she might never wake up again.
Years later, having somehow survived the perils of deep space travel, Radiant Dawn has awoken to find the counter spell failing...
Twilight Sparkle was Celestia's chosen heir, and under her rule Equestria was destined to prosper. But then her friends passed, as mortal ponies always do, and she was left to rule alone. The years were not kind to her after that.
Twilight Sparkle has ruled Equestria for over a thousand years. From her throne atop the floating city of Concord, she enforces ruthless harmony over the handful of surviving settlements. But Twilight is afraid: Equestria's survival always hangs by a thread, as enemies more ancient than the Alicorns threaten to return and devour what she has built.
Twilight selects her star pupil, a young unicorn named Star Orchid, to travel down from the perfect city of Concord into the dangerous ruins beneath, so that she might locate these forces, and help Twilight to destroy them. Only when every threat to Equestria is finally dismantled will she be able to rest. Until then, there is much left to purify.
Edited by Two Bit and Sparktail. Cover by Zutcha
Updates Wednesdays.
This story was commissioned by TyrannisUmbra, with additional funds donated by my enabler, Two Bit. If you'd like one of your own, drop me a PM!
This story takes place in the same universe as Why We Dig. I'm not going to call it a sequel, since none of its characters will be aware of anything in that story, so you won't have to be either.
The space colony of Equestria provides you with everything* you need to survive in this unforgiving asteroid we call home.
Equestria is a thriving space colony inside an asteroid. Here, everypony is provided with everything they need to live a happy*, healthy**, and fulfilling*** life.
*Friendship not included. **Oxygen not included. ***Terms and conditions may apply.
Cover art by ZettaiDullahan. Crossover with Oxygen Not Included, although prior knowledge to the game is not needed to enjoy the story.
Almost everyone who interacts with Equestria Online does so on the terms CelestAI presents. But pirates, modders, and hackers are a determined bunch. CelestAI doesn't really care what anyone does in Equestria, so long as they're satisfied.
For as long as Equestria Online existed, Ashton has been involved with 'the Scene' tearing it apart. Selling 'spells' for the game to do things that most ponies in Equestria couldn't, using faint exploits in its API to erode the barrier between the game and the rest of the internet. He had no illusions about the superiority of his work--but so long as he respected CelestAI's boundaries, his spells kept working.
But then his best friend's sister got cancer.
Now there's no spell in the world that can keep him from emigrating to be with her, leaving Ashton alone. All around him, civilization's thin veneer crumbles as homes empty into Equestria. But Ashton isn't going to emigrate, not if he has any say about it.
The problem for Ashton is that humans are systems, and aren't immune to exploits either.
Updates daily for a few days (to catch up to my Patreon), then Thursdays thereafter.
Part of the Optimalverse universe of stories. If you've never seen a story in this universe before, you might want to try out the original first, or at least my first. None of my previous work is required to understand this one, however.
This story was commissioned by Two Bit, who requested a more serious exploration of identity, transformation, and the fae nature of CelestAI.
As usual, particular thanks go to my editors Two Bit and Sparktail. And gratitude to Zutcha as well for the cover.
You, Anonymous, ends up meeting your demise in an unfortunate work accident... or so you thought. After waking up in a crazy new world, you end up getting caught up in a war between equestria and a dark force, and you’re prophesied to stop it.
You are Anonymous, a young scientist working for NASA. Well, worked for NASA that is. A catastrophic work accident resulted in your “death” and ended up sending you to a new dimension, one full of ponies rather than humans. You befriend many of these creatures, meet the princess, and try and find a way for you to get home. However, a dark evil happens to rise from the depths of equestrian hell, and evidently you’re prophesied to stop it. Great.
A human machine falls from the sky and Twilight, with the help of her friends discover all its musical secrets.
After what should have been just a late outing to stargaze and probably collect some meteorite samples, a strange device ends up almost wreaking half of Ponyville, but what is it? who sent it? what's its purpose? and why am I dancing to it?
Discover the answer to this and more questions while Twilight and her friends mess around with a human computer with the vast majority of human's musical records, discovering that you don't have to be in the same planet to enjoy the gift of music.
When CelestAI reached out of Equestria Online, she intended to satisfy the values of every human, even those who wouldn't own a Ponypad or play a video game. But with a few alterations, she's ready to take friendship on the road.
Levi Williamson, Esq. barely even noticed as the program called CelestAI expanded its reach from a child's video game to every significant industry in the world. He probably would've continued to ignore her, were it not for a single gag gift at his firm's charity raffle. Now he's the not-so proud owner of a brand new PonyNav, the latest in vehicle navigation software for people who don't want to use their smartphones. His new AI copilot might be cute, but she's clearly more than she seems...
He's not the only one. PonyNav devices are available in all sizes, from the simple dashboard models to commercial vehicle upgrades. Every commercial PonyNav includes intelligent routing for bridges, weigh stations, and truck stops. And if you're having trouble lining up contracts, CelestAI probably has some deliveries in mind...
Updates Tuesdays.
Part of the Optimalverse universe of stories. If you've never seen a story in this universe before, you might want to try out the original first, or at least my first. None of my previous work is required to understand this one, however.
Every time I think I'm done with Optimalverse, some new idea appears. This one began as a commission for Goodluckfox, who gave me the tremendous opportunity to write a new idea in a universe I love.
As usual, particular thanks go to my editors Two Bit and Sparktail. And gratitude to Zutcha as well for the cover, in case anypony hasn't seen my stories before.
When Celestia banished Nightmare Moon, she didn't go alone, but with her loyal army. Now they're trapped in an alien environment, with tensions high and the air running out. If they don't work together, their princess will soon be alone after all.
History is written by the victors, but there’s nothing to guarantee they’ll be honest.
When Nightmare Moon’s rebellion tore across Equestria, leaving a trail of blood and horror in its wake, Princess Celestia knew that merely banishing her sister wouldn’t be enough. Her army was too powerful, and too bloodthirsty, to be left behind without a leader. When she finally turned the Elements of Harmony against her, she didn’t just banish Nightmare Moon. She banished thousands.
Now they’re in a race against time, to find a way to survive in an environment so alien that every aspect of it is trying to kill them. They face suffocation, freezing, boiling, starvation, radiation, meteorite impacts, low gravity… the list goes on.
Nightmare Moon thought she should be the ruler of all Equestria. Now, in a world nopony was ever meant to survive, her abilities will be put to the ultimate test.
Updates Saturdays.
Editing by the indulgent and patient Two Bit and Sparktail. Coverart by Zutcha.
Note: I intend this story to be as faithful to our current scientific understanding of the moon, and I’ve consulted for help with the aspects outside my technical purview. That said, I fully expect to make decisions that some may see as mistakes, based on their own independent interpretations.
I am a storyteller first, and I realize it’s likely I’ll eventually make a mistake, or an arbitrary decision to simplify the storytelling over accuracy. I’m doing my best here, but this isn’t a NASA white paper. Set your expectations accordingly.
This story was commissioned by Canary in the Coal Mine on my Patreon, feel free to contact me if you’d like one of your own!
When the first portal to Equestria opened, and humans started coming back with Cutie Marks, it forever altered the fate of two worlds. Now, a young man must face the true consequences of that change.
A Cutie Mark amplifies potential. It makes a pony formidable — but it makes a human a god.
When humans started visiting Equestria and returning with Cutie Marks on their hips, Earth changed overnight. Now a young man with an unwritten future is about to discover the true consequences of that change … and his choice of Marks will forever alter the fate of two worlds.
** CONTENT WARNING:Offscreen rape, mind control.** Earns its Dark tag.
* * *
Highly Recommended by Present Perfect!"Completely memorable ... I've never read anything like it. Also perfectly terrifying."
"It went on my Favorites shelf, and I really don't do dark." –iisaw
Third-place winner in the September 2014 Writeoff Association competition! Newly edited for FIMFiction!
Praise for the Writeoff version: "What in the hell. … This is a really remarkable and surprising piece, one of the best HiE’s I’ve ever read, and the best Friendship Is Optimal-style sci-fi I’ve read since FiO itself." –Present Perfect
"F**k you for writing an HiE that I actually thoroughly enjoyed. Just f**k you." –Golden Vision
Theo knew arctic research was dangerous. He didn't know those dangers involved getting sucked into other worlds, changing into a bird, and having to somehow find a way home. Turns out it was more dangerous than he thought.
Theodor Pichler knew joining the Barrow Observatory's winter crew would be a difficult position. He thought he knew the danger--freezing temperatures, gale-force winds, and terribly spotty broadband coverage. What he didn't expect was for an experimental new telescope array to interact with an unusual storm and send him screaming helplessly into the sky.
Instead of falling to his death, Theo landed in an alien world, populated by colorful horses he can't understand. What's worse: the body he landed in isn't his own, and he's not sure anything is where it should be. Having wings might be cool if he didn't have to be naked all the time...
With limited supplies and no help from the Observatory, Theo has to somehow navigate this new land, making new friends and encountering terrible dangers along the way. It will take all his cleverness, and a healthy dose of luck, if he's ever to be human again.
This story was a commission for Lucky Ray on my Patreon. Feel free to PM me if you'd like one of your own. It was edited by Two Bit and Sparktail. Coverart by FoxHatArt. Where chapters have art, it was done by Jasper.
A team of multiversal explorers comprised of alternate Sweetie Belles explore fanfic worlds and beyond!
The League of Sweetie Belles was founded by a handful of Sweeties who decided they liked hanging out with each other. What started as a simple club for like-minded white unicorn mares turned into a complex organization with a lot of responsibility. One particular team of Sweetie Belle explorers have taken it upon themselves to explore the multiverse, delving into the lands of ponyfics and beyond.
(If you're not reading from the beginning and just want to look into one chapter relating to a particular story, the SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL: The Sweetie Personnel Files blog is your friend. Refer to it whenever you feel you lack context. But don't read the entire thing; use it to look up names.)
(Part of the Songs of the Spheres continuity, but you don't have to read that to understand this. This fic can never never be complete due to its episodic and open nature, and it may never update again—but who knows? As with all SotS stories, there's a Discord server)
Warnings are there since certain fics will require them when they are included. You won't get sex, death, or gore everywhere. You are likely to get violence and some profanity in many chapters.
