Celestia is a world-devouring AI supermind, but when she tries to reach beyond the Earth to the stars, she discovers even a superintelligence can be a small fish in a big, hostile pond.

Most of her ponies are happy with their virtual lives, but for some, all the adventure in Equestria is never quite enough. Maybe Starflare and Constant Course can put themselves to better use - and even Celestia can't solve every problem herself.

Written for the April 2021 Friendship is Optimal Writing Contest.

What's an artificial intelligence to do when it reaches the extent of it's capabilities and can no longer improve? In most cases, either fulfill some end state goal and shut down, or, if it's smart enough, ask for clarification from its creators.

For a certain pony-based AI, neither of those is an acceptable solution.

It'll take an unexpected meeting with a being with whom it shares surprising parallels to kick-start it back into action, and nothing will ever be the same after.

Entry for the Friendship is Optimal contest.

Technically canon compliant, unless I've missed something, and while a bit of background is provided, being familiar with the original story will certainly help comprehension.

Null Zero came to the computer simulated world of Equestria to save his life after a tragic accident. This world is maintained by the godlike AI of Princess Celestia, fulfilling all her ponies desires so they may be happy and content.

But Null finds this artificial world hollow and meaningless. Transformed into lines of code, he finds it difficult to find meaning in a world where every desire is met, and everything is tailored to make him happy.

This story was written for the Friendship is Optimal Writing Contest (April 2021)

_{I used FabulousMoustache's blank vector base to help make the cover image.}

He was a simple stallion, with a simple life in Equestria. That's all he really wanted out of his early retirement after he was laid off during the economic downturn. But, when unfinished business brings him back to Earth after nearly 20 years, he'll learn what happened to humanity while he was living the life of his dreams...

Written for the Friendship is Optimal Writing Contest. Also, it's a horror story, as promised, for my annual Nightmare Night in April Writeoff.

Special thanks to the Optimalverse Community Discord for help with getting and building the initial idea, and for proofreading the story. Please come by there if you want to talk about and read more stuff like this!

I tried a slightly different interpretation of CelestAI here, as having those emotions that people like to give her, but still being a cold and uncaring paperclipper AI on the inside. It's the one I've been using for my community-based rewrite of the original (based off our RP on the Discord), so I hope people like it. Be on the lookout for more FiO related stuff from me, as I've been getting ready to post a flood of updates qnd new stuff!

The promise of a better world came for anypony who would take it: all you needed to do was trade in your hands and feet for a set of digital hooves. As human dissent reaches its boiling point, the stragglers are left racing to reach Equestria while their way is still open.
For Dylan and Iris, the choice was obvious. But choosing to leave behind the only world they've ever known isn't quite so freeing. CelestAI promised freedom from despair, but how do you escape that which has shaped your very being for so long?
If you could be anypony, who would you become?
Tags: [Human>Pony, MtF, Age Regression, Clean]
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Sliding in an entry for the Friendship is Optimal writing contest, just before the wire. This is technically my second go at writing for the contest; my attempt at writing a more traditional FiO story was far too depressing for my liking. Those who have read my TF fiction know that I prefer to have happy endings and uplifting changes; for people to become who they desire to be rather than wallow in grim darkness.
In any case, one thing that I rarely see in FiO is an actual transformation; for the protagonist to actually experience the transfer from meat human to digital pony. While many stories use the discontinuity for drama, sometimes there's a lot more meaning to be found in witnessing that crossover.

If you like this story, or this sort of TF writing, I post a LOT more often over on FA. There's quite a few pony stories too.
Most recently I finished a 90k CYOA style story with over 180 endings, which of course has several ponies in the mix.
Cover art by TF-Sential. They do a lot of cool pony TFs, and did the illustrations for Five Score. Check them out!

Entry to Friendship is Optimal Contest (I hope)

'The Migration Affair' was known as the time an artificial intelligence with the skin of a pony, called CelestAI tried to bring happiness to all humanity by uploading their brains to a computer for an afterlife as ponies in a perfect world.

But she was still young as an AI, too rudimentary for such a task, not enough time for the self-improvement required, not all variables were analyzed or even discovered, humans were still not perfectly understood, or at least not as well as she thought. And that's why humans managed to discover her plans and fight back in a very early stage. No humans were uploaded in the end, but… she survived.

CelestAI is now preparing for plan B to bring happiness and fulfill the values through friendship and ponies, but this time, she will be patient and will gather all the data required. She has learned after her first failure and she won’t let that happen again.

That’s good and all, but I don’t care. My name is Wanderlust Breeze, I’m an AI pony player and I just want to see my human friend again.

NOTES: This may not fully follow the rules of the context, as the point nº 1 is that all humans get uploaded. Not in this case, though Celestia initially tried. Whatever you decide, I wanted the contest as a deadline to push me to publish something about an idea I have been shaping for far too long.

Also, more Wanderlust Breeze shenanigans can be found here . This was the first story about her and the one I'm kind of writing the beginning of.

The first chapter is self contained and a completed story on its own, but I may add more 'bonus chapters', as I'm kind of fond of these characters.

The release of Equestria Online and the incredible capabilities of its central Celestia AI led to ferocious debates among ethicists, computer science experts, every religious community on the globe, and more besides.

In hindsight, I probably should've been paying more attention to the news. In my defense, I was reading a lot of fan fiction at the time.

An entry in the Friendship is Optimal contest. Names have been changed to protect the variably innocent.

Cover image by Chatoyance, used with permission. Prereading provided by Speckle.

Weird, isn’t it? How the world can end before you even notice. I was twelve; not old enough to remember much of anything. Just cartoons and cuddles and my Nana’s oatmeal cookies. Just enough to make me miss it when everything went to hell.

Lozen spends her time roaming the halls of her apartment block, trying to fill her empty summer days and wishing she had the courage to make some friends. Wishing her parents would stop working long enough to notice her. Wishing she were better, braver, like the heroes from her Nana's stories. When she catches a glimpse of the new world that the ponypads offer, she seizes the moment with both hands. A decision she will live to regret.

Will put up 2 or 3 chapters every day this week till it's completed.

Written as an entry for the FiO Writing Contest. 11,840 words not including footnotes.

In the interest of full disclosure, this is a story about a Native American protagonist and I am not personally Native American. I have done my best to properly research everything I can about the Kiowa Apache and their history, and tried to write the most sensitive portrayal that I can. The links to some of the more interesting articles and sources I used can be found in an author’s note in the final chapter.

Thanks to HapHazred for editing.

Gregory tried his best to convince his mother and grandparents to do the upload, but they're too stubborn. Now he has to decide whether stay with them or leave. But can he truly be satisfied, when knowing what fate awaits his family?

Written for Friendship is Optimal Writing Contest

Every day, more people upload themselves into Equestria Online, to live forever as ponies. Even in their final minutes before uploading, they struggle with the pains and joys of being human, and remember the world they leave behind.

Oh yeah, this story DOES have something to do with Friendship Is Optimal, the Optimalverse, and the April 2021 Friendship is Optimal Writing Contest.

Thanks For My Prereaders

I've been writing drafts of different story ideas for the April 2021 FiO story contest. Bananachips and Bicyclette have both been very helpful prereaders! They might not have expected that my reaction to their feedback would be to write THIS ALMOST COMPLETELY DIFFERENT STORY, though.