Jeff Slater, in all of his life, couldn't say he ever expected to be turned into a pony. When he heard about such a thing on the news, he imagined it was just science fiction, just like the many other things that played on the TV. Equestria Online, as far as he understood, was just a popular game that his children played.

It made waking up as a pony at the end of his battle against cancer all the more surprising.

Now she is a mare named Candle Light, living in the fictional land of Equestria, a land that presents itself with unlimited resources and happiness that seems almost never ending. And all that's asked of her is to find friendship and seek satisfaction for herself.

Friendship and satisfaction can be easy things to come by in Equestria, but it's much more difficult to find for the ones left behind on Earth. Happiness, it seems, is a zero-sum game being played between ponies and humans. And Candle Light may just be caught in the middle of it.

Cover art by Merisa.

Sheila could say that, while she wasn't exactly satisfied with her life yet, she enjoyed it. She had nice friends to talk to, hobbies she enjoyed, and while she might have been conflicted about some things, she had a lifetime to think it over before she would emigrate. By then, everything would be as she wanted it, and there would be nothing left to worry about.

And then she was shot.

Now she and her friends find themselves navigating a position that's seemingly untenable, one with waters muddied by a dictatorial AI hellbent on providing satisfaction through friendship and ponies. With the line between what's genuine and what's not unclear, the position seems an unwinnable one. Someone will draw the short straw, and have to face a life that's unfulfilled. Any other path to satisfaction now forces it to be made from lies and deception.

Satisfaction may be a guarantee in the world of Equestria Online, but at what cost does satisfaction come?

Cover art by Madelinne. Her art is extremely good, and very wonderful, and I appreciate her allowing me to commission her for this story.

With great help by Starscribe, who's FiO stories inspired me to write this to begin with and who sat with me for hours to help me outline this story and give it its sense of direction.

It's not a matter of if a pony will be done, but when. Everypony knows this, but nopony can predict when their moment will come until it's upon them. Crystal's husband, Amber Skies, comes upon his moment to say he's finished, and shares his final goodbyes with her.

Inspired by the story Memory Of Forever by the one and only Starscribe. Written in the moment that the story came to me. I hope you can appreciate it as I do.

Charley was not the least bit surprised when he came face to face with Death after months of fighting cancer. It was just the final thing in a long line of disappointment and regret for him.

Death, however, wasn't pleased with what he saw, and threatened Charley with losing his soul for the way his life turned out. Before it was lost though, Death decided to give Charley one final chance. A last task: to make one friend. Make one friend in one week, and he'd be able to pass through to the other side.

Making one friend in one week? That should be easy enough, right?

Cover art by Mayhem Moth. You can find her work here.

Arcane Word has an unusual profession among Equestrian ponies: a necromancer. After a lifetime of creating characters and telling stories, she's in the perfect position to provide relief to first-generation ponies with holes in their family. For every pony unwilling to ask for Celestia's help to fill in the gaps, she is the perfect pony—she even lives in the abandoned city of Wintercrest, surrounded by appropriately spooky decor. The authenticity of her results were always secondary to the satisfaction they produced.

At least until a particularly troublesome client arrived, flush with resources from Equestria Online's distant borders and megastructure expansion. What would it take for Equestria to bring a pony back from the dead? What about everypony who had ever lived?

Arcane Word could never turn down such a tempting job. The impossibility of the task was only ever a minor setback.

Updates Daily

This story was written for the print anthology of Friendship is Optimal stories I'm currently publishing. Every time I make a print book, I like to include something that has never been published before, this is it. If you'd like to get a copy of the book for yourself, you can order it here: https://igg.me/at/recursive-iterations

Thanks to Bitera and Sparktail for editing. Zutcha did the cover.

Soft Step feels terrible, and Fluttershy picks up on it.

Cover art brought to you by Skydreams.

This story was done as a commission for Skittlebug. If you'd like your own, feel free to PM me.

[Complete! With TVTropes apparently!]
Also, apparently, an animated trailer.

In a world of brass and steam, Twilight Sparkle had thought she had made a life-changing discovery with the invention of the telescope. For better or worse, she was correct.

Now her discovery has not only changed her life, but the lives of those she seeks out in her desperate attempt to contact the only other creature as lonely as Twilight herself.

It all would have been much simpler, but it had to be the one Twilight could only call The Mare on the Moon.

Decidedly not within walking distance, then.

[Featured on EQD before story was meant to be submitted. 4/03/2015]

[Editing team: Southpaw, Wolfvenom, Maskedferret, SwanSong and BluePaladin42, without whom this story would be a fraction of its current state.]
[Special thanks to Novel-Idea for the updated cover]

This story takes place in an AU during Season 6.

Luna finds a book written by Star Swirl the Bearded that has been hidden ever since he went missing a thousand years ago.

One chapter is written in code and she is desperate to find out what it is hiding, but would it be better if his secret remains unknown?

* Featured at #6 on the banner 01/17 - 01/18 - thank you all! *

Fluttershy wasn't expecting to find a snow globe in her closet; even if Angel Bunny pointed it out to her, it most certainly didn't come from him. The most obvious candidate is Discord, but if so - why is it there? Who is it for?

And why does the snow globe have a figure of her inside it, dancing amidst the perpetually falling snow?

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A very belated Hearth's Warming gift for the ever lovely Nailah. This story was written for Jinglemas 2020; For more information about Jinglemas, check out our group!

All of my thanks to Flashgen for his help.

After dying in a train crash, Twilight finds herself offered a deal by the Reaper: a game of chess for her soul. Twilight accepts, but there's something off about the game. Something she can't put her hoof on.

But the answer to that question is just perfect for who she is.

Cover art is from the Poets of the Fall album Clearview.