This story is a followup to Friendship is Optimal, set not long after the initial commercial release of Equestria Online. We follow an non-brony emeritus professor living in a retirement community.

Beta-read by LordBucket. Many thanks, man.

Princess Celestia has been keeping a dark secret from her subjects for a very long time.

It's not an easy truth to tell, but if anyone can accept her after learning it, it will surely be her most faithful student.

Third Place Finisher in Equestria Daily's 2013 Nightmare Night Contest!

Petra Alice Bettencourt, a child of the lost Earth's ruling corporate elite, nears her fourteenth birthday. The earth is years gone now, and Petra lives on with the elite in special mansions on the backside of Canterlot Mountain. But Petra, like all the Worldgovernment elite, has had her experience of Equestrian life determined by the agreement that made the Conversion Bureaus possible at all - she is still completely human, in Equestria.

Spike only wants things to stay the same. Time, however, has other ideas. He's going to need a lot of help... An everypony story.

(Cover image by Rannva)

Octavia has always played the piano. From a young age, it was her mother's dearest wish that she would learn, and she couldn't let herself disappoint her mother. So she played the piano. But that isn't to say she wanted to.

This is the story of her life, told by her. It's a story about music, family, and self-discovery.

Written for the /fic/ May Write-Off, in which it came second place (to DuncanR's amazing Erase and Rewind).

Edited by Vimbert.

Rainbow Dash is dead.

Scootaloo knows this, but that does not mean she will accept it. Equestria is a land of magic and hope—what is one more miracle among hundreds? This is the question that drives her forward when she stumbles upon a Daring Do book that seemingly shows her a means of bringing back the dead. Driven by painful memories and a desperation to make up for her own mistakes, Scootaloo ventures on a quest to bring her fallen idol back to the land of the living. Embarking on a journey far from the world they know, Scootaloo and her friends find the line between fact and fiction—reality and delusion—blurring with each step.

Originally envisioned and published in 2012. Resurrected in 2019. Be wary of potential spoilers in the comments

Cover by the awesome and talented Conicer

Once upon a time, Spike went for a walk.

While on his walk, he was judged by an ancient alicorn, lodged with griffons, parlayed with air pirates, charmed a maiden of a mystical race, and dealt with the scourges of hate, fear, and racism while deliberately drawing the armies of myriad nations to the brink of global war.

Once upon a time, Spike went for a walk, and did all of this so that he could keep a promise to the one that meant the most to him... Twilight Sparkle.

In the first of three books, Pillars of the Sun (Chapters 1-15), Spike is devastated by Twilight's fate and grows more and more despondent as he attempts to understand what has happened to his dearest friend. A gentle nudge from a pony he trusts sends him looking for answers. When that nudge becomes a push he unravels ancient secrets... and risks losing himself before his attempt to rescue Twilight can even begin.

THIS IS NOT MY STORY!

Well, not only mine, anyway. Each author is listed with the chapter. A lot of people like writing short fiction based on Friendship is Optimal. So, anyone who wants their work added here can PM me and I will make you your own chapter. The first one sets up an in-universe frame story, because the Optimalverse is all meta like that.

Credits:

Iceman for writing the original Friendship is Optimal
Eakin for spearheading the project of anthologizing these.
MegaSweet for the original artwork.
Lacon-te for the photomosaic work.

Alex Meyers is a newly graduated lawyer looking for a calling. He thinks he might have found it when he lands a job at the firm of Artemis, Stella & Beat. The firm has only one (highly unusual) client, namely the AI called Celestia. Forging into totally unexplored legal territory and led by a boss who's either brilliant, crazy, or both, Alex will learn exactly how hard it is to be responsible for drawing the lines between right and wrong.

Set in the Optimalverse, so read Friendship is Optimal first

Cloudsdale. Bastion of the Pegasi, linchpin of weather control, home to the Wonderbolts. A magnificent metropolis gracing the skies of Equestria. So what happens when an oblivious human starts stumbling around in a sailplane? As they say, hilarity ensues.