Shining Armor has lived a long and happy life alongside his wife Cadance. Though they never managed to have another child, they've held the Crystal Empire strong against many enemies, helping to spread friendship all across the world.

But merely being married to an Alicorn Princess has not protected him from the ravages of time. Where many others would have to say farewell to their immortal children and relatives, something else is waiting for Shining Armor.

His younger sister, ruler of Equestria, is unwilling to say goodbye, and has perfected a spell that will allow him to stay with his family. He has little time to decide: accept the spell, or say goodbye to his family forever. It isn't really much of a choice.

Cover by Zutcha, editing by da star bois Two Bit and Sparktail.

A warning for potentially sensitive readers: this is a story about cute role-reversals. Though it includes Gleaming Shield and physical transformation, it has neither the scope nor the wordcount to deal with the more sensitive topics of personal identity and dysphoria. Things I could not treat with the respect they deserved were left out of the story completely.

If you're looking for a more substantial take on transition and transgender subjects, I suggest one of my other stories, Homebrew.

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.

Cover by Zutcha

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.

Cover by Zutcha.

Tracy Maxwell is in a desperate situation: find somewhere to live, or lose the internship he needs to survive. After exhausting every property in the city, one last option appears the day before his deadline. Sure the agent selling the place is a little weird, and more than a little overeager to get the property signed off. At the worst, maybe there's a little mold in the bathroom somewhere, and he has to make do until the lease is up.

But then he steps inside and discovers things can be much worse. The property is in another universe, and while he's there he'll have to play by its rules. He's free to continue working his dream job, so long as he keeps to the contract. Even worse, he's got a roommate who has no intention of leaving him alone.

If he ever wants to escape, he'll have to read the Fine Print.

This story now has a hardcover! If you'd like one of your own, you can grab it here: https://starscribe.net/

This story is a commission by _Kenzu_!

Twilight Sparkle wakes up one day feeling strange. Everything is gigantic, her tail is wrong, and she can't help but notice all the unusual smells. Her hopes that it might be one of Discord's strange pranks are quickly dashed, as she discovers the effect is more widespread than she initially guessed. Twilight Sparkle is an Espeon now.

But will Equestria survive it?

Written on a bizarre whim because the world needs more eevees. Then Sparktail supported me on https://www.patreon.com/user?u=3226653 to keep going, the absolute mad lad. He and Two Bit did the wordfixing. Zutcha did the eevee cutes.

Updates daily until complete.

Nothing can stay the same forever. Scootaloo always knew that her days with her perfect little friendships in Ponyville was numbered. Scooters break, friends move away, but some injuries run too deep to fix. No number of stretches, no mystery cures, nothing can give her the flight that other pegasai take for granted.

Then comes Nightmare Night, and some dangerous advice. There's somewhere Scootaloo can go, somewhere where any flaw can be overcome. Assuming she's willing to pay the price.

At this point, Scootaloo will give up anything.

The winning entry for the Human Transformation Contest. Cover by Zutcha.

If you want to check out some of the other entries from the contest, you can do so here.

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.

Flurry Heart's Crystaling didn't quite go as planned. After vanishing in a powerful magical surge, she became the most high-profile missing pony case in Equestrian history. Twilight leads the search to find her, before it's too late.

Unbeknownst to her, Flurry has already been found, by an unfortunate human who happened to be hiking near the place she appeared. Flurry Heart's magic is irresistibly powerful, and soon changes all around her to suit her whims. Soon Flurry's rescuer is fighting to reverse the magic, before the authorities notice and separate him from the only possible source of help.

Cover by Zutcha, editing by the Eevees in the hood Two Bit and Sparktail.

Updates most Tuesdays.

Note: This story was written as a commission for the generous patron of the arts Crescent Pulsar. If you'd like one of your own, feel free to PM me.

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.

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.

This story is a sequel to The Last Migration

Accipio was once the largest and mightiest empire in all the world, with ten birds to every pony in Equestria. They swept from one side of Equus to the other, conquering and enslaving all that they found. But Equestria held, held even when Mons Ignis rose from its ancient slumber and drowned Accipio in ash. A terrible war was nearly the result, as ponies and griffons struggled for what little resources they could. Were it not for the desperate struggles of a few brave souls, surely civilization itself would've ended.

But the next generation of both nations rise with no knowledge of the past, and that's something that Equestria's Princess Twilight Sparkle cannot abide. The Migration War is transforming into myth right before her eyes. She can't stop the flow of time, but she can send a historian, to take down an accurate record of what happened while the players still live.

But as Contrail will soon discover, history isn't just in the past. Whether he likes it or not, he's about to be part of the story.

Updates daily for the first week while it catches up to my Patreon, then on Mondays thereafter.

This story was commissioned by Vilken666, feel free to PM me if you'd like one of your own. Editing by Two Bit and Sparktail, my enablers. Cover by Zutcha.