"The Iron Horse" CROSSOVER Reveal! · 2:16am Aug 12th, 2016
Well, after much delay, it's finally going forward, and I'm pretty excited about it! To find out what this crossover will be, check below the break!
The story that The Iron Horse is doing a crossover with is...
I figure there may be some questions you all have, so I've tried to anticipate them and provide some answers. If you have a different question, let me know!
Question: Do I have to read Pony.exe to enjoy this crossover?
Answer: Nope! 
The story is designed so that newcomers from both The Iron Horse and Pony.exe can dive in easily. But if you need a brief idea of what the story is about, here's a quick synopsis:
David Carrian is a college student and PC gamer who one day hears a voice talking to him through his headphones while on his computer. It's a small female voice which says: "Help me..." The voice says her name is Twilight Sparkle, that she's a pony, and that she doesn't know where she is or how she got there. It turns out that she's now a program inside his computer. This not being a "Brony" fic, David has no idea who that is, or if Twilight's real, an advanced AI, or how she got there, but he promises to help her find the answers and, hopefully, get back home to Equestria.
Question: So, what does this have to do with The Iron Horse?
Answer: In this crossover, Twilight finds herself removed from David's computer and now installed on a new piece of hardware: Turing Test. Now, Turing and Twilight will have to learn to work together. But the two soon find that things are more complicated than they seem...
Question: Who wrote this crossover?
Answer: Both Blue Blaze and I wrote it together! About half-and-half, with feedback from each other. Also, two of my editor pals, GenerousGypsy and E3gner, agreed to help edit it. And The Iron Horse's illustrator, Colby Green, is doing the cover image.
Question: Is it canon?
Answer: Nope! Not to either story. Consider it just a bit of fun with alternate universes. 
You can skip it and lose nothing, but I will say that it will give you a chance to glimpse Turing Test in a very unique situation.
Question: Will I enjoy it?
Answer: If you like The Iron Horse, you probably will. It has the same blend of cuteness, humor, and dramatic feels-ridden moments as the main story.
Question: I've read Pony.exe, but it hasn't updated in a while. Is it because Blue Blaze was working on this with you?
Answer: Sadly, no. This story has been completed for months, but I've been waiting for Blue Blaze to get back to me on some changes I suggested, as well as to coordinate a release date for it for a while. But, like I said in a prior post, he's just gone dark on me. I literally haven't heard from the guy in months, though I know he was on this site a little over three weeks ago.
Question: Wait, so why are you releasing this if he's not around?
Answer: My reasoning is that we both worked very hard on this and I think it's a pretty awesome story. I gave him multiple messages and even a deadline with plenty of opportunity to pull the plug. If he had said "Actually, dude, never mind. Let's cancel it," I would have. But as it stands, it's just sitting there, and I cannot abide by that.
However, I do want to say something: I am not angry or upset at BB. If he's not responding, I assume it is for a good reason, and I hope it isn't anything serious. 
BB actually proposed this crossover to me back at the end of 2015. I agreed, and we slowly put together an outline, divided up the workload, and put it together over the course of a few months. Then it got edited, re-edited, and finally was finished. BB's a talented writer and I was pleased to work with him. In fact, the overall plot is his idea, rather than mine, and when he was around, we gave each other lots of feedback about how to write each other's respective characters and make a believable narrative.
I really wish that this project was going forward with more of his input and participation, of course; we had both hoped to promote each other's work, but it seems that it's going to be more of a one-sided thing. It's too bad, but please don't spam BB or chastise him or downvote his work or anything like that. I am hopeful he'll come back sometime and then his readers will get more notification.
Question: So, when is it coming out and how long is it?
Answer: Sunday or Monday, and it's 60 pages on GDocs, so it's enough to sink your teeth into without being the gargantuan work that The Iron Horse is. 
It'll be released over about a week as three or four smaller chapters.
Got any more questions? Let me know, and I'll be happy to answer them. See you soon! 
This looks interesting.
Sounds like BB burned out his energy for social interaction.
Will this be released as it's own story (like the Iron Horse Holiday Special) or just as non-canon chapters within the Ion Horse proper (Like Turing Toast)?
4145094 Great question! It will be it's own standalone story, not part of the main one. I only do that for short, silly joke chapters.
You. Are. Fucking. Kidding. Me.
orig03.deviantart.net/4d66/f/2012/196/9/7/rainbow_dash___so_awesome_by_trinidash-d57cqv4.gif
Looks that will be really fun!
HAH! i knew it!
I CAN'TWAIT!
4145390
Not. This. Time.
Yeah, RL tends to grab Blaze in a bit harder and longer than typical. We trust he'll be back for a bit before the year is out.
4149055 I can understand that and I'm sympathetic, but I have to admit that I'm pretty disappointed that he didn't help me get this project to this last step. I required so little of him: give his final approval and put up a blog post promoting it to his readers. That was it. And he didn't do either of them.
Like I said, I'm not mad, and I enjoyed working on this project, but after I sent a few PMs and personal emails I really wish he could have at least contacted me to clue me in, and I gave him lots of opportunities.